


He Fell From The Sky

by Melancholy_Incarnate, TheHeckAmI



Series: In witch I have a Loki in it [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: DEATH HAPPENS IN THE PAST, F/M, Loki gets cared for, Loki secretly likes to cuddle, People in town have mixed feelings about loki, Slow Burn, So manny OCs for the first part, because you're in the middle of nowhere and the woods, but like i said, deep seeded hatred for the tower in both of you, from friends to maybe lovers, loki doesn't like seeming weak, mischief forever, nosy SHEILD, reader gets used to him, reader has powers?, slowburn, they aren't that obvious to anyone but the reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-04-22 06:25:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 59,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14302782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melancholy_Incarnate/pseuds/Melancholy_Incarnate, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHeckAmI/pseuds/TheHeckAmI
Summary: What were you supposed to do when a certain norse god fell from the heavens a few miles away from your home, leave him to the wolves? ha!





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work has not been proofread yet, you have been warned.
> 
> EDIT: This work is in the process of being proofread. If you catch any errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, or anything else I might've missed in chapters 1-8, please let me know! Thank you! -Melancholy Incarnate

**_RUN_ **

The feeling deep within your bones screamed the command as you pounded up the side of the hill, grabbing roots, rocks, and anything within your reach to help yourself up the steep slope even a fraction faster.

_**RUN** _

Your legs were screaming in protest as you forged on, reaching a level place and able to increase your pace.

**_FASTER FASTER FASTER_ **

You let out of heavy and long breath of frustration, to busy with running to do anything else. The tugging in your gut prompted you to take a sharp left off of the trail and back into the thick forest, towards where you knew the stone hills were - an empty expanse of rock ringed by scarce plant life and then a thick, almost solid wall of trees. Your body was begging you to stop but you kept running at full speed, some burning sensation prompting you to try and go even faster. You were in no way out of shape, but a long day of tending to a large garden in preparation for the off season and then hours of hauling boxes for a friend in town had left you thoroughly worn out and exhausted. And then something made you wake up and go on a midnight run.

**_GO_ **

You pushed through the thick tree line with a grunt as as branches slapped at your limbs and face, finding yourself -as always- ever thankful for the thick clothing you preferred. You really hoped whatever was going on out here was worth your intuition and mind screaming at you to get out here. The second you set foot on stone you ground to a halt, almost falling on your face.

**_Something’s coming_ **

The intensity faded somewhat as you looked up and spotted the steadily approaching dark blur. You had time to let out a short breath before it hit the ground with a resounding crack that would have woken you up had you still been asleep at home, rock flying everywhere as the cracks spread even to where you stood.

Then there was silence for so long you were sure someone must have stopped time so that you could spend the whole night staring at the center of the crater. Your mouth eventually moved on its own, however, as your mind reeled helplessly.

“What?”


	2. Chapter 2

Approaching the crater not too long later, you quickly took in the blood-spattered green and black clothing and the battered and dented gold helmet and promptly ignored them both in favor of checking for a pulse on the mystery man who had just come crashing down from the sky. You gave a small gasp of relief when you found the steady but slow pulse and started looking the man over.

He obviously wasn’t a normal human, otherwise that impact would have killed him and trying to pin human on him in your mind just didn’t work. Things generally didn’t stick well if they were wrong for you, so with that knowledge in mind you labeled him not from your planet at the least -which  _did_  stick- and began seriously looking him over. You spotted the half-shattered golden dagger sticking out of the back of his shoulder and picked up a piece of the chipped hilt with a worried hum. You collected all the shards you could find of the knife and pocketed them before finishing looking the man over, finding only a few other cuts and several bruises, but you heavily suspected that there had to be some kind of internal damage from the fall.

You didn’t even try picking the man up like a normal person, instead you shoved him up by the shoulders, wincing and the slight crackling noise, and then manouvered him onto your back piggyback style. He was almost impossibly heavy but you managed to get him through the trees, only falling down once when the slope got to much for you to handle with him on your back. You were fairly certain you didn’t make anything all that much worse for him though.

When you did get back to your house you had to spend a few minutes getting the door open and then getting the man onto your bed carefully so you didn’t accidentally make anything worse. After that, you started pulling off any of his excess clothing: first came the boots, which were easy enough, then the helmet, revealing the full mass of his raven hair, and then the coat and everything else. Gently tugging off the light undershirt, you found your bizarre medical kit. You didn’t really know what you were doing but your guesses and process of just doing things had always worked before, basically never making a mistake when it counted for the last twenty plus years of your life.

It took hours before you had finished your work and packed everything up. You expected that most of the damage had been done to his lower shoulders and back when he hit the ground but the golden knife worried you more. It felt important to have gotten all of the shards out, yet you were certain you hadn’t gotten all of them because your concentration had started to wander and you did not trust your hands to do the job correctly just then. The pieces you did have were dropped into a tupperware container for now and shoved under the sink. The clothing was dumped into a laundry basket to wash later;you figured he’d want it back. The helmet was set on the low table in front of you. You pulled the blankets from the cupboard and for once you instantly crashed on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about these two first chapters being so short but I wanted to put this out and set everything else up before I get into a regular posting schedule. Bear with me guys.


	3. Chapter 3

**WAKE UP**

Your eyes snapped open as you took a sharp breath and tried to calm your racing heart as you slowly curled up in on yourself. Tears threatened to break free as you forced yourself to take deep breaths and focus on your shaking hands. The nightmare repeated itself over and over again even as you tried to think on everything else. The roaring fire on the lawn, the dark shadows pulling you towards a truck, your brothers screams of pain and desperation. You couldn’t stop yourself as you curled in tighter on yourself and broke out into choking sobs.

You hated that nightmare so much- could the past just not leave you be for one night? After what felt like forever, you forced yourself up and into the kitchen to make yourself breakfast. Checking the clock as you pulled food out, you internally cursed. You had probably fallen asleep somewhere around four in the morning and now it was nine. Rubbing your hands across your face in agitation, you quickly made yourself a full breakfast and forced yourself to eat all of it. After that you quickly found tasks to keep your mind off your nightmare, including hand washing your current guest’s clothing, seeing as it was covered in blood and dirt. As you carefully worked the stains out of the fabric, taking care of the leather and gold-like elements of the garments, you tried to figure out what kind of fight he could have been in to end up like he had.

You weren’t getting any random answers so you shrugged, figuring it wasn’t important and hung the clothes up to dry. After that you washed all of your dirty dishes, scrubbing them so clean your fingers turned red and the dishes shone. Then you tidied up the living room, putting the various knives back where they supposedly belonged on their shelves and checking the handgun under the sink to make sure it was still loaded and in good condition. You hoped you would never need to use it, but after what happened with your brother, you quickly shook yourself out and distracted yourself by grabbing the tupperware container of knife pieces and a small case meant for displays. You then spent the next two hours arranging the pieces of the knife in the case and figuring out exactly which pieces you were missing. You hissed in frustration when you found quite a few pieces missing- and that was even counting all of the minuscule shards that would have broken off. After setting the case on yet another shelf, you finally went to check on your guest.

The raven-haired man was still fast asleep right where you had left him. You pulled the medical kit back out and redressed his shoulder where he bled through the bandage and you found yourself growing more concerned with the small golden lines stretching out from the wound. Once you were done, you felt the man’s forehead and paused with how cold he was. It didn’t make sense but you were fairly certain he was fine with his body being this cold considering he was still breathing at a steady rate, even if some of the breaths sounded a bit wheezing like he was a broken squeaky toy. You kept a hand on his forehead, however, as you fished out your phone and dialed a number you hadn’t had to call in three years.

“Hey doc,” you chirped as the phone was picked up. “Long time since we’ve talked.” You were trying very hard not to let your hands shake as you kept your voice cheerful and innocent.

The doctor's voice sounded almost amused “Long time indeed,” he agreed. “To what do I owe the delight? You didn’t break anything, did you?”

You let out a weak laugh. “Oh, no, not me,” you assured him. “I found somebody out in the woods again and they aren’t in great shape.”

“How bad?” the doctor asked, tone suddenly serious and you heard the sound of a door opening.

“Not enough for you to make the trip up here,” you told him quickly and moved your hand away from your visitors face as you moved to get up. “There’s just-ah-!” you cried out softly in surprise as the mans hand suddenly clapped around your wrist with a low moan of pain.

“[y/n]?” the doctor asked in worry.

You started out of staring at the mans hand. “Oh, it’s fine Doc, they just moved a bit.” You intertwined your hand with the man’s and he seemed to relax ever so slightly. “Anyways, he fell on a hunting knife that he broke when he landed on it after falling out of one of those really tall trees in the woods near my house.” The lie rolled easily off your tongue as you sat back down on the bed next to the man, whose hand twitched ever so slightly as you spoke.

“What was he doing up in one of those and how is he not dead?” the doctor asked incredulously.

You hesitated coming up with an excuse. “He may or may not have possibly fallen on me as well?” you tried and then quickly tacked on “I’m fine, but he’s certainly not.” The doctor accepted that and started rattling off different treatments for what you could do to help and then promised to come up to the house and help later that day. You internally panicked at that and said a little too fast, “No.”

There was a small moment of silence and you tightened your grip on the man’s hand. “[y/n],” the doctor started slowly, carefully. “I’m just coming to help.”

“It’s fine,” you told him quickly. “The road up is blocked anyways, I checked this morning.” Another lie. The man’s hand twitched ever so slightly again.

“I can walk up,” the doctor insisted gently.

“It’s fine, really,” you repeated. “I promise I’ll call you for help again if he gets bad.”

The doctor sighed. “All right [y/n],” he murmured. “Just stay safe, alright?”

“Got it,” you chirped and quickly hung up before the doctor could say anything else. You let out a long sigh once you had and turned back to the man laying on your bed with a small smile as you spoke to yourself in a morose and almost bitter but light tone, “Dang, looks like I’m gonna have to be careful to not socialize while you’re around.”

Then you got up and slowly pulled your hand from the man’s and when he didn’t make a grab for you this time you went to go find what you could to prepare for the coming weeks of caring for him. You loved the few in the town you considered your friends: Gregori, Frank and Jonna and their kids, Daniel; they were all so kind and caring, but they didn’t get it. No one in town did. Whenever you tried to explain the gut feelings that guided through you through your life they would laugh at your or ask if you were feeling ok. Almost everyone in town thought you were a little crazy and you would much prefer that to trying to explain what the inside of your head was like and possibly ending up like your brother.

You stopped in the hall and looked down to the end where the noticeably newer boards ended the hall, edged with the still slightly scorched and blackened wood around them. You fought down your emotions yet again and grabbed an axe from next to the door. Time to go make sure something was blocking the road to your house.


	4. Chapter 4

Loki vaguely remembered falling through the air and the surge of pain and panic coursing through his veins as his magic warped, contorted itself, and bristled at his call. His last thoughts had consisted of a moment of resignation until he heard his brother’s absolutely heartbroken scream. Then he had pulled at his magic with only one desire.

_HELP_  

Now drifting in and out of consciousness, Loki was in an almost constant state of agony, most intense at his shoulders and spreading out through the rest of his body. The only times he wasn’t in complete misery were the few times he was just barely lucid enough to catch brief glances of another person. It terrified him at first, and still did somewhat, that he was completely at this other person’s mercy. At one point he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not when he caught sight of the face of a young woman, half shrouded by her hair, as she worked to re-bandage his arm. He was lucid enough at the time to smugly notice that she was doing it wrong- very close to how she should be doing it, admittedly, but wrong. Then he realized he was within her care and if she could not care for him properly his situation might grow worse, so he began the fight for lucidity in earnest.

He thought he had finally gotten it when he managed to murmur out a word but got no further than a weak “where…” before his voice trailed off and a gentle hand pushed his hair back and soft words of comfort pierced through the darkness. Loki didn’t think he was getting anywhere with this and it was frustrating him to no end until one day he actually woke.

-

It had been a full week since the mystery man had dropped out of the sky and you brought him into your home and you had watched him fight an internal battle for awareness as you softly cheered him on. You still worked around the house and did your normal jobs, taking a few trips out into the woods to assure the road was staying blocked while he was out, but otherwise you did most of your work in his room. Today was different, however, as you walked into the bedroom, massaging a knot out of your shoulder from the way you had ‘slept’ on the couch last night.

When you walked in and looked up you met a pair of bright green eyes. You stopped in the doorway with a blank look on your face and just stared at each other for a moment before that information clicked into place. “You’re awake,” you said dumbly.

“So it would appear,” came the dry reply, soft and cracked from sleep and hidden pain. “And who are you?”

You shook your head to clear your thoughts. “[y/n],” you told him and gave him a hesitant smile “I hope you’re not in pain, I did what I could but I’m no doctor.”

“Obviously not,” he said scornfully.

You let it roll off you and were just happy he was awake. “Think you’re awake enough to remember anything we say now?” you asked him gently.

He gave a small snort. “Well we’ll find out eventually won’t we?” he asked and you nodded with a small smile and headed over to him to pull the medical kit out from under the bed. “And since you’ve been treating me,” he began, “mind telling me exactly how bad this is?

“I-I’m not really sure?” you told him hesitantly.

“And what does that mean?” he asked flatly.

“Well it’s not like I have an X-ray machine to use on you,” you defended as you started undoing the bandages around his chest. “You’re gonna need to sit up, thanks,” you uttered before continuing. “From what I can tell, though, most of the damage was done to your shoulders when you fell from the sky. Which sucks ‘cause you were also stabbed there and the knife kind of broke inside of you.”

“I fell out of the sky?” the man asked with a smirk but fell momentarily silent when you nodded “Where are we exactly?”

“About sixty miles away from the nearest town,” you muttered. “But also Idaho.”

“Where?”

You looked at him curiously. “Idaho?”

“And how far away from New York is this?”

You stared at him. “You’re from New York?”

“No,” he snapped. “I’m from Asgard you pathetic mortal, now answer the question.”

You were a bit taken aback at that. “It’s basically on the other side of the country,” you told him dully, “and I’m just trying to help.” He gave you a skeptical look and you pulled your hands away. “I can always drive you to town if you don’t want my help but most of them don’t really like foreigners…” you told him hesitantly.

“And you do?” he asked.

You paused for a moment. “I’m… Indifferent,” you told him. “As long as people aren’t trying to hurt me, they’re generally fine. Plus, you’re not the first person I’ve randomly found out in the woods injured and needing help.”

The man watched you closely as you quickly finished redoing his chest. You frowned over the wound in the back of his shoulder before you carefully helped him lie back down. “Who do you work for?” he asked and cursed internally as he felt sleep calling to him again.

“No one really,” you told him as you packed up the medical kit with a small frown and muttered about having to restock soon. “I sell art and things and am fairly self sufficient up here.”

“No third party forcing you to care for me?” he scoffed softly.

“Only my conscience,” you stated simply and the man turned to you with an amused look on his face. You hesitated as he muttered something about mortals and stupidity but shook your head as his eyes closed and quietly made your way out of the room.

—-

It had been a week, a full week, since Loki had gone missing. Fury was standing at his normal place on the bridge of the helicarrier as he ordered different groups of agents to search different areas. That trickster could be anywhere by now, and even if Tony was right and ‘Reindeer Games’ was indeed dead, they needed to find the body as proof to send back to Asgard.

“Stark,” Fury snapped as Tony stepped onto the bridge. “Tell me you have progress.”

The inventor shook his head. “We should have chipped him,” he muttered. “We’re going to have to wait for him to show himself. We sure he isn’t dead?”

“I’m sure it’ll take more than a knife to the back and a magic disappearance to kill him,” Fury growled and turned back to the bridge. “How’s the thunder god doing?”

“Thor’s…” Tony trailed off ad ran a hand over his face. “He’s still not back from his own search. We’re starting to worry.”

“He’ll be fine,” Fury said, “but when he gets back make sure you put a tracker on him, Stark.”

It said something about the situation that Tony didn’t shoot back some joking comment and just nodded before leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is going to be the only time the Avengers show up for like the next fifteen chapters, YAY


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who don't like OC's, I am so sorry, because they are going to end up real relevant to the first half of the plot since these two are out in the middle of nowhere. but hey! Loki gets way more involved starting next chapter, WOOO

“You’re wrapping that wrong.”

Your face flushed with embarrassment as you let Loki, as he had introduced himself the second time he had woken up with you there, show you how to properly dress the wound. Loki looked quite smug as you mumbled a soft sorry and copied the technique on his other arm.

“Where did you even learn how to treat wounds?” Loki asked jokingly. You hesitated.

“I… Didn’t…”

“Care to expand on that fact?”

You paused in your work for a moment before you answered. “It’s been more of a learn on the fly with most of my experience…”

Loki looked at you. “So you have no idea what you’re doing?” he clarified.

“I haven’t had any formal training but I do try and get my hands on medical knowledge when I can,” you mumbled out, concentrating on the task at hand to try and fight down your blush of embarrassment.

Loki let out a low sigh. “It is a good thing I heal quickly then or I would probably die under your care.” You were a little hurt at that but really hesitated when he continued. “So if you’ve had no formal training and only know bits of knowledge how did you treat things so accurately?”

Oh boy, this is where things got interesting. “Well, you had a knife in you,” you tried. Loki simply raised an eyebrow and waited for you to continue, “... and I may or may not have, quite possibly, probably, mostly guessed on everything else. Loki stared at you for a full minute in silence before you built up the courage to continue. “As much as it sounds like I’m lying, I’m not,” you promised in a soft voice. “I just followed my gut feeling and it’s never been wrong when it’s mattered before.”

“That is an uncanny amount of ‘gut feeling’ then,” Loki noted in a condescending tone, as if you had told him that you were actually a magical fairy unicorn. You ignored it and started packing up the medical supplies.

“You should go back to sleep,” you informed Loki. “You’ll heal faster that way. Is there anything you want for breakfa-”

Loki cut in before you could even finish your sentence, a hungry look in his eyes. “Pancakes.”

You let out a small snort of amusement. “Got it, I’ll leave them next to the bed if you aren’t up when they’re done,” you told him. Loki nodded before lying back down and you slipped out of the room again. When you were done with the pancakes, you left them with a note telling Loki that you would be either outside or otherwise away from the house for most of the day and to not get himself injured any further. You clipped on the additional knife holsters before arming yourself. You grabbed a long coat to cover yourself despite the still mildly warm weather and the sweater you were already wearing and then you grabbed your long scarf and wrapped it around the lower half of your face before heading out to your car.

The reason for your warm clothing choices was a necessity with your ‘car’ seeing as it was roughly an hour drive there with the way you drove and it didn’t really have any actual doors or a roof. This was because you didn’t really have a car, you had a tactical jeep. You pulled on the goggles sitting on the dashboard before pulling up your hood and pulling out onto the old dirt road. You sped down the road and relaxed slightly as the jeep rumbled and moved underneath you as you took the sharp corners with ease, only stopping once to move a thin but long tree out of the way of the road, something you had set there as a deterrent to those trying to get to your house. About twenty minutes after that you were in town and having to slow down considerably before you eventually pulled up in front of the ‘Everything And Then Some’ store Gregori owned.

Hopping out of your car, you quickly shed the scarf and goggles and half undid your coat before heading into the store and waving at Gregori behind his counter. “Morning Greg!” you called happily as you made a beeline towards the back of the store where the pharmaceutical supplies were kept. “How’s your nephew?”

“Thomas is doing fine,” Gregori called happily back to you, he was an older man with all most all of his hair gone white by now. “Haven’t seen you in a good while [y/n], what you been up to? Doc said you found another poor kid in the woods.”

“Not a kid,” you told him as you sorted through the selection of painkillers. “Full grown adult. Messed himself up pretty bad so I’m taking care of him.”

Gregori snorted. “Your kindness is going to get you killed [y/n],” he teased. “One of these days you’re going to invite a serial killer into your house and we’ll have to come save you!”

You knew it was meant as a joke but his words sent a shock of fear through you and you quickly came up with a shaky response, trying hard to make it seem like you were laughing too by holding up a knife and shooting back “He’ll have to get through all my lovelies first, Gregori!”

“Atta girl!” Gregori laughed from the other side of the store and you were glad he couldn’t see your shaking hands as you put the knife back where it belonged and fought down the rising and completely unreasonable panic building up in you. Gregori wasn’t like the others, he was a harmless old man with a love for sweets and a soft spot for people without families. Gregori wouldn’t hurt you, but, then again, he talked to the people who could. You made the decision to not tell anyone in town other than maybe Jonna and Frank any more about Loki than you absolutely had to.

You quickly collected the correct painkillers and new medical supplies before dropping them into a basket and checking out with Gregori, making yourself stay a few minutes to chat with the older man about the upcoming winter and stuff happening in town. After you left the store, you went to the market and stocked up on more food, laughing at the concerned looks the store workers were giving you and having to assure them that, no, you hadn’t run out of food but there was another person at your house now so you needed food for at least two people now. They relaxed after that but you were worrying at the back of your mind, knowing that news would be all over town by the end of the week. After that you swung by Jonna's.

You carefully set down the long package on her doorstep with a smile before hopping in your jeep and heading out. Jonna's birthday was coming up and since you probably wouldn't be able to make it down long enough for an actual party with Loki at your house, you dropped off your present now. She would know it was from you; after all, who else would give her a massive sword to go on her wall along with a shield with her family's crest?

The ride back home did more to relax you than reading a book next to your fireplace would have. It was still light out when you got back to the house, though, so after taking everything inside, pulling off your coat and scarf, and poking a head into the bedroom to see Loki sleeping peacefully on your bed, you pulled on a pair of gloves and headed out to go get rid of some of the worst weeds that were encroaching in on the clearing your house was in and then continue preparing your large garden for the winter. It was close to dusk when you were finished and your muscles were screaming for you to stop and rest but you simply stripped off your gloves and boots and pulled a sword off your wall. Your movements were slow at first as you moved across the grass, mentally running through every movement before you made it as you ran through the drills your brother had taught you so long ago. But it wasn’t long before you were dancing across the soft greenery, sword no more than a glint of metal as it spun through the air in careful and precise movements. The sun had fully set by the time you stopped yourself and suddenly remembered you hadn’t made lunch or dinner and darted back inside the house, tossing the sword onto the couch as you went and pulled out stuff for stir fry.

Twenty minutes later, you were edging your way into the bedroom with an apologetic look on your face. “Sorry,” you told Loki as you entered and he raised an eyebrow.

“You entered the house all of twice today and not once thought to actually check on me,” he said flatly and you winced.

“Sorry,” you repeated as you handed him the plate. “I was in town and then I had to deal with stuff outside.”

“And then you played with your sword, yes I know,” he gave a weary put-upon sigh and you hesitated.

“You… you saw me practicing?” you asked softly.

Loki looked up from his meal at you. “Yes, is that a crime now? You’re not very good, by the way, but then again, you _are_ mortal.” He made a dismissive motion with his fork as if it didn’t matter. Then he stopped for a moment with a look of mild disgust on his face. “Why are you crying? Did my insult to meager swordsmanship skills really affect you that much? Are you really that pathetic?”

You touched your cheek in surprise and found you were in fact crying and quickly rubbed the tears away. “Ah-no, it’s nothing,” you told him quickly and Loki's eyes flicked towards your face for a moment before going back to his food as you continued. “People in town just tend to think it’s a weird pastime. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t really know what I’m doing,” you admitted. The town was fine with what they knew of your knives, thinking you only owned about five besides the ones for cooking, but in reality, you had close to thirty. The swords, in their general opinion, were just ridiculous and useless for anything other than decoration.

“Of course you don’t,” Loki scorned. “You would have to have an actual teacher to be any good with it. Would you grab me one of the books from your shelves? My magic is not responding how it normally does,” he growled irritably.

You gave a small snort. “You’re already done with the entire Harry Potter series?” you asked him but grabbed another book regardless.

“They were hardly a challenge,” Loki said simply, “and both the antagonist and protagonist were absolute fools.”

“Really?” you asked curiously. “Why so?”

“First off,” Loki began and you sat on the edge of the bed ready for his tangent to begin as he talked around the food. “Why kill a baby all by yourself!?” he spat. “That noseless fool could have done the deed so much more efficiently -and QUIETLY, might I add- if he had properly thought it out! He had a giant snake, for Odin's sake! Just wait until everyone is asleep and then send your pet to kill it. And the Horcruxes-!”

You let Loki rant at you at how stupid mortals were until he was starting to drop off while speaking. You quietly took the dishes from his lap and pushed him down, smiling in amusement at the fact that he was still talking despite being half asleep. He finally petered off in his rantings when you turned out the light and collected a few changes of clothes from your dresser. After you took a shower you curled up on the couch and pulled the blankets close around you while you thought over the end of the day. You actually liked having someone around to look after up here, maybe you’d get a dog after Loki left. That sounded nice.


	6. Chapter 6

You woke up not to a nightmare as you normally did but to rain pattering on the roof and windows. You felt a sudden rise of joy and almost ran for the door when something stopped you. A glance at the bedroom door down the hall had you pausing and then heading over to your sound set up. You pulled out your laptop to quickly look up some of the older-styled music you enjoyed and quickly got it playing over the speakers so loudly you could no longer even hear the faintest pattering of the rain. Then you grabbed one of your heavy coats with a grin and bolted out into the rain with a cheer.

Rain was one of the few things you found calming anymore, the pleasant chill it set into your bones as you ran and spun through the puddles, kicking up water and letting out screams of delight as you stopped through the muddy grass. It could rain for weeks and you would still love it. The rain got larger and louder and so did your happiness as you danced through the torrent of water. And then lightning cracked through the sky and you screamed, bolting back onto the porch, not stupid enough to play in a thunderstorm. You giggled softly as you watched the sky continue to light up, only faintly hearing the thunder over the loud music inside your house. Eventually you slipped back inside, running to shove your coat into the dirty laundry hamper and then drag it after you as you hurried to where the shower was, shivering the entire way but happy nonetheless. A hot shower fixed the shivering problem and the wet clothes were dumped into the laundry basket in favor of a warm and clean set.

And then since you were already up you did the laundry, re-cleaned the living room, turned the music up ever so slightly, and then started getting things ready for the next day. You hummed along with the song and were wrapped up in your task until a pair of hands grabbed you by the shoulders and roughly turned you around, slamming you into the counter. The first thought you had was to question why and how in the world Loki was out of bed. The next was to realize just how much bigger than you he was. He absolutely towered over you and the look in his eyes was not a kind one.

“How did you know!?” he hissed, arms shaking as he held you pinned to the counter as you tried to fight off your rising panic.

You stared up into his haunted green eyes and eventually stammered out a “W-what?” as your knees shook and his eyes narrowed in anger.

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW!?” he roared at you and you flinched back.

You wanted to try and fight him off but you were painfully rooted to the spot. “Know what!?” you cried out. “I-I don’t know what you want!”

You were let go a moment later and you watched Loki move back slowly, shaking slightly and watching you with the guarded expression of a wounded animal, his lips pulled back in a snarl. “You know more than you should,” he hissed. “Who do you work for?”

“W-what?” you choked out, pressing yourself to the counter this time hoping he wouldn’t actually attack you.

“You know more that you should!” Loki repeated louder, angrier, afraid.

You recognized the mix of emotions instantly and held up your hands in a sign of surrender and asked quietly, knees still shaking with fear but trusting your instincts like you always had, “C-can we go back to the bedroom first?” You continued hesitantly. “Then we’ll talk?”

Loki hesitated for a moment but let you lead him back to the bedroom and sit him on the bed. You then closed all the blinds and sat on the bed across from him, fidgeting nervously before taking a deep breath and speaking. “I… I doubt I can actually give you the answers you want,” you told him, keeping you eyes on the blankets between you. “You asked me how I knew something and how I knew more than I should, the answer is I don’t.” He gave you a disbelieving look. “I don’t,” you insisted. “I-I just…” You hesitated. Was it really safe to tell him about these things? What if he thought you were crazy or-

“I am the God of Lies,” Loki hissed and you looked at him in surprise, taken aback since he hadn’t told you much about himself yet. “If you even  _try_ to lie to me I will know. Now tell me how you know all of these things, little one.”

“I don’t!” you repeated again.

“Elaborate.”

You looked to your hands. “I told you when you asked how I knew how to treat you, part of it is through repeated practice, but mostly by guessing,” you told him, keeping your gaze firmly on your hands as you spoke. “For basically my entire life I have trusted my gut feelings. The times I didn’t or couldn’t always ended badly in some way, large or small. It’s mostly little nudges like ‘don’t pick that fruit’ or ‘pick left instead of right’- it’s the difference between running into an old friend while on a drive or picking a fruit that’ll be in better shape. But then there are the big ones that are harder to ignore and a lot more important, like the gut feeling that led me to you. I woke up in the middle of night and just ran, just going in a seemingly random direction until I came to the place where you fell out of the sky a moment later.”

There was a few minutes of silence before Loki spoke. “So you are either very lucky, crazy, or something else.”

Your head shot up in alarm at the last one. “No,” you insisted, almost desperately. “I’m very much human, there were even tests that proved that.” Loki gave you a blank look as his eyes swept you up and down.

“Believe what you will,” he said slowly and his eyes narrowed, “but you are at the very least not a _normal_ human.”

You slipped off the bed before he could stop you and quickly left the room, going right for the porch where you sat on the hard wooden deck with your head between your knees and fighting off old memories of fire and shadowy men.  
-  
Loki watched you leave the room and slowly laid down with a low hiss of pain a few minutes later. It had taken quite a lot out of him to go and confront you and the unnecessary pain he was now dealing with was almost worth his little discovery. He wondered if you could ever be wrong if you followed your ‘gut feelings’ all the time and, if so, why you were living alone up in the woods.

He smiled slightly as a new song began and remembered the bladed weapons covering the living room. A woman after his own heart then, he had thought and he had to admit to himself after seeing you wield a sword earlier that you were not an absolute novice but you were certainly not a warrior. Not that that mattered in his condition. Unable to use any real magic and almost dead on his feet just from walking to the living room he wouldn’t last half a second in a fight against you unless he surprised you and had a weapon. But that begged the question on how he had surprised you tonight. Perhaps you couldn’t hear this gut feeling over the loud music that he would never admit to being grateful for. He was glad the blinds were closed now and he eventually fell asleep to one of the more gentle and soft songs that played not too long after.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, tiny time skip to keep things moving

It was two weeks after the storm incident and Loki was well enough for you to remove most of the bandages and for him to be moving around on his own. So here you were sitting behind him on the bed unwrapping most of the bandages and rechecking the knife wound that had refused to heal and you were finally thinking about possibly taking him to the doctor. The two weeks had gone smoothly after the storm and Loki hadn’t brought up how you knew things any more, but he had started asking you a bunch of random questions you were confused by but managed to get mostly right. You had started hanging out in his room more often as he was awake more often as well, and most of the time the two of you would sit in silence and read.

“You're gonna want to take a shower before we redo your bandages,” you told Loki gently and slipped off the bed before offering him a hand up and handing him a towel. “It’s down the hall and to the left, I’ll have clean clothes on the bed by the time you get out.” Loki nodded and stumbled slightly as he headed for the door and you instantly caught him before he could fall.

“I don’t need help,” Loki sighed in exasperation. “I swear you’re worse than Thor.”

“Brother, right?” you asked and he nodded. “Good, was worried he was a lover for a second.” The appalled look Loki shot made you burst out laughing. “Well if you would ever actually tell me anything about yourself I might not have to make guesses.”

Loki snorted. “Only if you’re willing to play the same game.”

You shrugged. “Sure, you gotta get clean first though. I’ll make pancakes.” You smiled to yourself when Loki sped up and you moved back into your room. You were  _so_ getting a dog once he left. Maybe a black lab or a border collie. Definitely a big dog you could cuddle but you would have to look into temperaments, you didn’t need a dog that wanted to run all over the place, though you could probably handle it. Pulling out some older and well-worn clothing from the very back of your closet you paused slightly. They were your brother's old clothing. Normally you wouldn’t have offered them, but Loki was much much taller than you, and male, and you hadn’t gone into town to find him any clothes. That was added to the list of things to get during your next trip, but for now you left the folded clothing on the bed and headed into the kitchen to start on the pancakes.

You were happily flipping the tenth pancake onto Loki’s plate when he emerged, sans shirt (which you were completely used to after treating his wounds to close to three weeks now. Yes, his figure was nice, but you were over it by the end of the first week) and with a curious look on his face. “Why do you have clothing so large?” he questioned you as he moved to sit at the table, clearly better once he was no longer up and moving around. You turned off the skillet and brought him the plate, grabbing the necessary medical supplies on your way.

“I had a brother too,” you explained as you set the plate in front of him and moved to the side so you could deal with his shoulder. You frowned at the golden lines, now about six inches long at their longest point. “How badly does your shoulder hurt?” you asked as you made your way back to the cabinet to grab the painkillers.

Loki shifted so you could deal with the stubborn wound while he ate. “It still feels like I was stabbed, if that’s what you’re asking,” he told you around a mouthful of pancakes. Your frown deepened and you tapped the roll of bandages against your fingers. “What are you thinking little one?” he asked pleasantly. He had started calling you little one not to long ago and knew it irked you ever so slightly when he brought up the difference in height.

“I don’t have the tools to do what I want to do,” you muttered and Loki looked at you. “I couldn’t get all of the knife out of your shoulder,” you explained. “It was weird and gold and I think the bits still in you might be poisoning you.” Loki slowly lowered his fork to his plate.

“Little one,” he said slowly, “Please do us both a favor and lead with that much earlier on in your care for me. Do you still have a part of the knife?” he asked.

You nodded. “Just about everything that isn’t in you,” you informed him. You could have sworn you saw an impressed look flash cross his face as you went to get the case. When you set the container of fragments on the table in front of him, his frown turned worse than your own.

“This is indeed concerning,” he muttered and looked up at you. “How can I get all of this out of me?”

You hesitated. “I’m not sure you can,” you started warily. “I’m sure tiny fragments broke off and would probably be in your bloodstream by now and I don’t think anyone even in the vaguest terms of nearby has something that could identify those fragments and extract them. But the small pieces that I missed could probably be taken out by an actual doctor…”

“But?” Loki prompted.

“But I don’t really… trust the local one,” you relented and looked down at the table.

“So now we reach the game,” Loki rumbled and you looked up in confusion. “Question for question. I ask one about you and you answer then you ask one about me and I answer. We can say no and the other must come up with another question. Understood?” You nodded. “Good, I’ll go first. Why do you not trust the local doctor, is it not his job to assure you are well?”

You hesitated and looked back at the table. “That… is a question that has a very complicated answer.”

“I can continue asking more questions,” Loki said calmly.

You paused for a moment to arrange your thoughts and fight off the mild panic before answering. “Because he has not always looked out for everyone’s health,” you answered slowly and Loki nodded, gesturing for you to ask a question. “Why were you crashing into the woods?”

“No real idea myself,” Loki said with a smile. “When didn’t the doctor look after everyone’s health?”

You paused with a frown but answered anyways. “A bit over twelve years ago. Now why don’t you have any real idea?”

Loki smirked at your question and leaned back slightly. “Because last thing I remember before here was being in New York trying to figure out how not to die. What happened a little over twelve years ago?”

“My brother,” you said flatly and fought off the memories of the screams. “What were you doing in New York?”

“Working with the Avengers,” Loki said. “What did your brother do to get forsaken by the doctor?”

You hesitated again before answering. “He… a lot of things that they didn’t understand.”

“Excuse me for interrupting you, you can ask two questions next turn,” Loki said before you could ask your question. “But what were some of the things they didn’t understand?”

“Protect me with lethal force.” you said flatly, looking Loki in the eye. This was the one thing you would never back down on with anyone. Loki let out a low hum of interest. “Who are the Avengers?” you asked.

Loki looked taken back for a moment before bursting out laughing so hard you saw him wheeze in pain a few times. Your worry spiked for a minute and you slid him the bottle of painkillers and start to get up but he just waved you down. “Who-who are the avengers?” he wheezed. “I was under the impression everyone knew who they were?” You shrugged as you stared down at your hands, waiting for Loki to regain control. “Well, they call themselves the world's mightiest defenders,” he told you after a few more minutes of laughter. “Oh how I shall prize the look on their faces when they find out someone did not know of their glorious existence until I told them.” He almost sounded mocking.

“Ok,” you muttered hesitantly. “And who are you?”

“Probably should have led with that darling,” Loki chuckled. “I am Loki, Prince of Asgard and God of Lies. Now who are you?”

“[y/n] [y/ln], a lonely and probably crazy person in the woods.” Loki smiled in amusement at that. “Who’s your brother?”

“Thor Odinson, also a prince of Asgard and God of Thunder. Now who is your brother?”

You hesitated for just a moment before taking a breath and answering. “Tori [y/ln],” you answered.

“Thunder fighter,” Loki mused sounding amused.

You shrugged. “What’s Asgard?”

“Another one of the nine realms,” Loki told you. “What was your brother like?”

“You’re really interested in him,” you muttered and Loki flashed you an innocent smile and you just sighed. “He was far kinder yet firmer than I was,” you told Loki and looked down at your hands. “He was a bit weird but in the good way and he never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it. I remember once when I was six he saw a girl getting harassed by a group of boys and came close to running them over in retaliation. When they didn’t run off, he got out of the car and beat the ever-living daylights out of them. Then we took the girl home and gave her like three pounds of chocolate.” You smiled at the memory.

“That was by far your longest answer,” Loki mused.

“It could have been much longer,” you said simply. “I’m assuming you grew up in Asgard, so what was it like?”

A faraway look entered Loki’s eyes and he gave you a half smile. “It was a mixed experience,” he started, in turn giving a longer answer. “Asgard is absolutely beautiful and astounding and I was very happy there for a time. The libraries in the palace are absolutely massive and packed full of books and the ‘adventures’ Thor would drag me on often ended with me having to save him from some kind of danger.” You snorted in a knowing manner. “So why is your brother no longer around?”

“Pick a different question,” you said instantly, refusing to get into that right now.

Loki watched you. “Fine, why should I not trust the doctor?”

You stiffened slightly, cursing at how smart he was to hit the exact same matter and get additional information out of it. Your forced yourself to answer this one though. “Because neither of us want for me to be ‘rescued’,” you hissed. “Especially with you injured.” Loki nodded and you rested your head in your hands. “Are you a wanted criminal?” you asked wearily.

“No.”

**_YES_ **

You looked up at Loki. “Don’t you lie to me,” you spat.

Loki looked a little impressed for only a moment before grinning. “I’m the God of Lies, what did you expect, little one, I would have had to lie somewhere in this little game of ours.”

“Loki,” you hissed in annoyance. “Are. You. A. Wanted. Criminal.”

“Technically no,” he repeated. “I am ‘reforming’ as the captain likes to put it and have been for a year now.”

You groaned and rested your head on the table. “Great,” you muttered bitterly.

“Why is this bad?” Loki asked.

“Because this is why you should not trust the doctor,” you spat bitterly. “Because he is one of the biggest leaders of the town and if he condemns you then we might end up with bigger problems than your gold poisoning or whatever’s going on with you,” you groaned while waving your hands at him. There was silence for a few minutes before you looked up at him. “What?”

“It’s your turn to ask a question little one,” Loki told you and you flushed slight at the fact that you had forgotten.

“Right,” you said and sat back up and slapped yourself in the forehead. “Do you have or remember the number of any of the Avengers?”

Loki paused for a moment and then slowly said “...No.” it was almost like he expected you to call him on it but instead you narrowed your eyes at him as you got the feeling he was lying again. “Do you want me gone from your home?”

You were taken back by his question and spoke before your mind caught up. “Not really.” He raised an eyebrow. “This has been nice,” you told him and then quickly added. “Not the you being hurt part, but the having another person here for so long. I’m normally alone. I’m actually thinking about getting a dog once you do leave.”

“A dog?” Loki asked looking almost disgusted and you chuckled.

“Yeah, not one of the really excited ones though,” you said, relaxing. “I don’t lead a life that moves around enough for that. Your pancakes have to be getting cold by now though.”

Loki stuffed the fork back into his food. “I think you’d be surprised,” he said. “You seem to run around outside enough.”

“Mostly to work on the yard,” you sighed. “The dog would just be running around and expecting me to play with them. If I get a more subdued one then I’ll have company instead of furry child.”

“Fair,” Loki chuckled and was about to open his mouth when you cut him off.

“My turn,” you said with a smile. “What’s your brother like?” He didn’t have to answer when you laughed at seeing his expression shift. “Got it,” you wheezed. “Seen that look enough times from kids in town to know the answer to that.”

“Well then, why do you live out in the woods alone?” Loki asked.

Your face darkened ever so slightly as you dropped your gaze. “Because it is my house and always has been,” you said softly, “And I needed out of the town. So why aren’t you in Asgard?”

“I am being forced to stay here as a punishment for my actions,” Loki sneered. “The All Father believes it will help ‘set me on the right path’, as he put it,” He spat vehemently. “Trust me, I would be home if I was able.”

You nodded and got up to grab your own pancakes. “I’m thinking we might want to stop now,” you murmured. “After all, neither of us are going anywhere for now.”

“And the pancakes are getting cold,” Loki added cheerfully and you snorted.

“And the pancakes are getting cold,” you agreed.


	8. Chapter 8

Loki was in the living room reading a book and flipping one of your many knives in his hand when your phone rung. Loki looked up as it continued to ring and looked towards you where you lay, curled up in one of the large armchairs and currently fast asleep. After yet another ring, Loki reached over and answered the phone himself.

“Hello?” he asked calmly.

An older voice came over the other side of the line in a suspicious tone. “You’re not [y/n].”

“No,” Loki agreed, “I happen to be very much male and over a full foot taller than her.”

“Not a difficult feat,” the other man said coolly. “Who are you?”

“Does it matter?”

“If you have harmed [y/n] in any way I will have the entire town hunting you down in an instant,” the man snarled. “Who are you and why isn’t [y/n] answering the phone.”

“She is not answering the phone because she is currently sleeping in an armchair across the room from me,” Loki told him. “And who do I have the pleasure of talking to, a friend of hers, I hope?”

“I would like to think as much,” the man hissed. “I’m the town doctor and I was calling ahead to warn her I was coming up to check on the situation. Would you happen to be her current charge?”

Loki glanced towards your sleeping form. “She’s asleep.”

“Yes, you said that. The fact that I am coming will not change, she will most likely have woken up by the time I get there regardless. Please tell her I am on the way once she wakes up.” the phone made a noise to notify him the call had ended and Loki kicked the chair you were sleeping on.

“Little one,” he growled and you let out a soft moan of annoyance. “Little one!” Loki growled louder and your eyes shot open, body tensing for an attack that never came.

You looked towards Loki warily. “What?” you asked.

“The doctor called to say he was on his way,” Loki told you and watched the dawning look of horror that crossed your face before you were scrambling out of the chair and throwing a thick blanket at him.

“Act like you’re horribly injured still and can’t walk!” you ordered urgently and started running around the house making it look like there had been less time to clean up and threw ingredients for lunch onto the counter and left it there.

“I am still horribly injured-” Loki started but you cut him off.

“As much as you can get away with!” you shot back in a desperate hiss. “I know you heal faster than normal people, he won't! As far as the doctor knows, you royally messed up your shoulders three weeks ago and have some bits of metal in you. He’ll expect you to be bedridden, or couch ridden in this case, and you up and moving around he’ll start to suspect things!”

Loki sighed. “And why is this bad-”

“It got my brother burnt alive!” You shouted at him and threw a pillow at him that hit him in his stunned face. “Now act horribly injured,” you pleaded as you ran your hands through your hair in worry. Loki slowly and quietly made himself look bedridden and the two of you waited.

It only took ten minutes before you spotted the car and ran towards the door to pull it open with a thin smile “Doc!” you cried. “You really didn’t have to come up here.”

The older man gave you a firm look. “As much faith as you have your little medical abilities, [y/n],” he said, “perhaps it is better to have a _professional_ actually take a look.” You hesitated for just a moment before stepping aside to let him in. You hated this but your gut wasn’t screaming for you to bodily throw him out of the window yet so you would suffer through this to get him out of your hair for longer later.

“He’s on the couch,” you mumbled and closed the door behind the doctor before following him to the living room where he and Loki were staring each other down, Loki looking every bit like the only half-lucid pain-stricken charity case the doctor had expected.

The doctor looked and you realized Loki was still wearing your brothers shirt. He gave you a strangely chilling look before turning back to Loki. “Think you can sit up so I can check you out, sir?” he asked gently and you helped Loki sit. The doctor continued to wait patiently while you pulled Loki's shirt off so the injury was visible. Loki did not miss how you silently handed the shirt over to the doctor and how the clothing piece was dropped into his bag.

The next thirty minutes were spent with the doctor examining Loki with small tutting sounds and Loki occasionally giving a legitimate wince when he was prodded in places that had not yet fully healed. “What is this, by the way?” the doctor asked you, gesturing at the golden lines spreading away from the knife wound.

“No idea,” you said shaking your head. “I haven’t seen anything like it before. I was thinking about calling you and bringing him down to see if it was an infection.”

“Well it certainly looks like one,” the doctor muttered. “We should probably take him down to the office tonight to get this taken care of.”

You tensed for a minute but forced yourself to relax and smile. “Of course, Doc. You should head down to get ready and I’ll bring him down in the Jeep.”

The doctor gave you a look. “That _thing_ you call a car is atrocious,” he commented.

“It’s useful,” you justified as you shuffled your feet. “And it’s not like I go anywhere when it wouldn’t be useful anyways.”

“I’ll give you that point,” the doctor sighed and headed for the door. “I will see you soon [y/n] and guest,” he said in farewell before he closed the door behind him.

It took everything you had not to fall to the floor in relief. “That could have ended so badly,” you breathed and then turned to Loki. “How do sedatives affect you?” you sighed.

Loki paused. “How much sedative?”

You cursed softly. “Ok, then how good are you at pretending like your drugged not to wake up when someone is cutting into you and fishing around?”

Loki gave you a slightly worried glance. “I’m sure I can give a convincing enough act,” he said hesitantly and you ran your hands down your face before grabbing the bottle of painkillers and tossing them to Loki.

“These might help,” you told him. “I’ve been giving you like four times the amount anyone would give a normal human so take like two more pills than that?” you suggested. Then you remembered your urgency and ran around grabbing coats and a spare scarf for Loki. “I promise I’ll get you out of there as soon as possible, I’ll even tell him there’s a shooter on the street and take you and run,” you told him.

Loki snorted. “Don’t lie to try and make me feel better, little one,” he warned you after taking the pills and handing you the bottle back and bending down so you could wrap the scarf around him. “Why the scarf?” he asked curiously.

“You’ll see,” you told him and dragged him out towards the Jeep. Once you were underneath its awning and had opened the door for him, you tossed both coats over him like a blanket to keep him warm during the long drive. You buckled Loki in tightly before he could try to do so himself and grabbed your goggles as you arranged your own scarf, pulling on the goggles as you sat down and buckled yourself in. Your hands were already shaking and you hated it.

“Little one?” Loki asked carefully. “Why am I buckled in so tightly and covered in warm coats and why does your car not have proper doors or a roof.”

“Aesthetics,” you grunted and put the jeep into drive before pulling out onto the road. “And It’s a long drive.”

“Then why are you not wearing a coat?” Loki asked.

“I’m wearing a sweater,“ you shot back and started down the road at a normal pace to give the doctor time to get back before you. “And you don’t even have a shirt.”

Loki snorted, “Little one, I will be fine.”

“Doc may not see it that way,” you muttered as you took a corner a little faster, watching in mild amusement as Loki gripped the sides of his seat. “I’ve been driving these roads for years at much higher speeds and in much worse conditions and only crashed once in that entire time,” you told him. “Relax.”

When you finally arrived in town and at the doctor's office you hissed a warning to Loki. “Remember, horribly injured.”

“You must be worried I’ll forget the stabbing pain in my shoulder,” he said sarcastically as you helped him out of the Jeep and into the building.

“I’m also naming you Tom.”

“What?” Loki hissed.

“Well I’m not telling him your real name,” you hissed as you lead him towards where the doctor was beckoning you. “I can’t go further than this,” you hissed to him after a moment. “Be safe.”

Loki gave you a look. “I’m about to willingly let a man ‘cut into me and fish around’,” he quoted. “That’s hardly safe.” You shot him a pleading look and he continued on without you.

The second you were able to, you were in the observation area worriedly watching and waiting as the Doctor worked. Loki acted perfectly and a quick bribe to the head nurse had both Loki and the small container of the golden pieces they had pulled out of Loki back in your car and speeding away as fast as the speed limit would allow.

“The pain medication did not help in the slightest,” Loki growled as he laid back in the seat, both coats tucked carefully around him.

“Sorry,” you told him as you focused on the road, hands shaking badly now that you were into the woods (instead of out of the woods haha) and most of the danger was over. “Now I just have to hope that he wouldn’t have recognized you from anywhere.”

“And that’s bad why?” he sighed.

“I’d rather not get ‘saved’ again.” Loki shot you a look but you were too focused on the road and keeping your own panic down to notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished proofreading.


	9. Chapter 9

“I am never doing that again,” Loki groaned as you dragged him into the house and towards the bedroom.

“I hope you never have to,” you agreed and pushed him so he landed face first onto the mattress. You watched in jealousy as he slept almost the second he laid down and you tossed a blanket over him. No horrifying and soul tutoring nightmares for him tonight, yay!

You pulled the largest quilt you had out of storage as well as three spare pillows and then curled up at the end of the hall and waited for the inevitable horrors to come.

-

Loki did not expect to wake up to the sounds of soft sobbing. When he pushed himself up out of bed with the smallest of hisses of pain at the burning sensation in his shoulder, he turned to the door and briefly wondered who could be the reason behind the muffled tears. Loki laid back down after a few moments of listening and did his best to ignore them.

He failed horribly.

He remembered every time he had been alone during a thunderstorm or when Odin had hurt him so badly with his words that it bested him for a short time. He remembered how every time he had just wanted a pair of arms around him and soft comforting words murmured in his ear with the promise that all would be fine.

Loki grumbled to himself but got up again and went to find you. You seemed to barely notice when he picked you up with a small grunt and carried you to the couch. When her curled around you however your arms pulled him close and the next thing he knew you were sobbing into his less injured shoulder. Loki gave a put upon sigh and wrapped his arms around you, quickly tired of pretending to care and fell asleep on the couch with you in his arms. You eventually cried yourself to sleep as well, wrapping tightly around him as if you were afraid he would disappear if you let go.

And for once, you didn’t dream of your brothers death.

-

You let out a soft groan as you curled up tighter on the couch, wishing sleep would take you back and rest for a little bit longer. You had been so warm and so peaceful. It was such a nice change of pace and you wanted it to last. But then again, you were on the couch. Didn’t you go to sleep at the end of the hall last night? You forced your eyes opened and looked around the room, finding you were indeed on the living room couch with your blanket tossed over you and the fire roaring not to far away. You hadn’t started the fire last night either.

“Finally awake?” Loki asked as you woke up, he was standing in the kitchen playing with a knife as he watched you through half lidded eyes.

“Uh, yeah,” you mumbled “what time is it?”

“Nine.” Loki told you “You’re normally up and making breakfast by now.”

“Nine?” you echoed in shock.

“Yes, is there something wrong with the time?” Loki asked flatly, apparently unamused.

You shook your head “I just… it’s nothing, don’t worry,” you told him and headed towards the kitchen “What do you want besides pancakes?”

Loki sent you a small glare of frustration at having his favorite breakfast taken from him and then set about thinking.  
"Do I not get pancakes?" Loki questioned in amazement "you're the one who slept in, why punish me?"

you smiled "because we don't have the stuff for more pancakes and won't until I go back into town."

"I thought you were self sufficient?" Loki protested.

"I can't make the pancake batter you love at my house," you chuckled "and even if I could I wouldn't because of the time it would take. Pick another breakfast food Loki."  
Loki sent you a small glare of frustration at having his favorite breakfast taken from him and then set about thinking "and we really need to find you a shirt," you sighed.

Loki shot you a curious look and then grinned "why, are my godlike features to much for you little one?"

you looked Loki dead in the face before answering "hardly."

"you wound me," he teased smirking as he leaned back in his chair.

you shrugged with a small smile "if you don't pick I'm just going to pull out cereal," you warned him "and I only have like half of a box of the shugary kind so you'll have to suffer through a bunch of the 'healthy' kinds too."

"you mortals are horrible," Loki muttered but set about eating the cereal when you placed it in front of him.

"oh you don't mean that," you teased as you got some cereal for yourself.

"I do," Loki muttered "you commit all these atrocities against your own kind and the entire race of human are no more than sheep, doing as they are told and spending the rest of their time in an unforgiving atrocious state of life."

you looked up at him and paused "what about the Avengers?" you asked "from the little you said about them they shouldn't be sheep right?"

Loki snorted "they are fools."

The rest of breakfast was spent in an awkward silence until you finally spoke again “so what happened to the knife you were playing with a minute ago, I really hope you’re not messing with mine.”

Loki grinned and flicked his fingers as a knife appeared in his hand, far more dangerous looking than anyone of the ones you owned “I found I could use a small amount of magic again this morning.”

Your eyes lit up in interest “Really? What can you do?” Loki watched you in amusement as he explained all of the things he could normally do such as allusions, teleporting, and sorcery. He seemed a little surprised when you started asking how the magic worked but explained regardless. Loki was actually a little impressed that you were at least mostly keeping up with the complicated terms and complexity of how magic worked, taking it at apparently face value and not trying to compare it to technology or science like Stark insisted on doing.

“Why are you so interested?” Loki asked after a while, mentally noting that he should probably take a nap soon to keep up his strength.

“Because it sounds cool,” you told Loki “and this is like real magic and tricks instead of the fake sleight of hand pieces others can pull off.”

Loki watched you for a moment before grinning dangerously “and what if I said you were a stupid mortal who couldn’t possibly even hope to accomplish a fraction of what I have achieved?”

You shrugged and flashed him a wide smile “at least I can cook all my own meals.”

Loki snorted in amusement and got up from his place at the table “I will give you that Little one,” he said “now you have your chores to attend to do you not?”

You let out a low groan of annoyance “yes,” you whined and got up to take the empty dishes to the sink. Loki watched as you switched your sweater out for a slightly thicker deep green one and then trotted out the door with gardening tools slung over your shoulder. “Oh!” you said and came back in “have you taken your pain meds yet?”

“No.”

“Then do that!” you told him cheerfully and darted back out of the door, kicking it closed behind you. Loki gave a long suffering sigh but smiled ever so slightly and went to find the bottle of pills in the cabinet.

-

“You look absolutely horrid,” Loki hissed “how dare you defile my color with your appearance?”

You shot him a glare “how about you get knee deep in weeds all morning and then fall down a hill,” you snapped as you started to tug the dirtied sweater off with a soft hiss of pain.

“How did you fall down a hill?” Loki asked skeptically.

“I slipped,” you growled and tossed it into the laundry basket before beginning to pull off your shirt without thinking. A low whistle from the otherside of the room had your face flushing and quickly putting the shirt down.

“Oh don’t do that,” Loki teased “I was finally getting a look at what was under all those layers of clothes.”

“Shut up,” you muttered, face burning bright red as you grabbed the medical kit and hurried towards the restroom.

“But little one!” Loki whined playfully from his spot on the couch, currently ignoring the book in his lap.

“Shut up!” you shouted back at him.

You tried to ignore Loki’s laughter as you locked the bathroom door with a short huff and then pulled your shirt off a little more hesitant this time with a wince or two. Falling down the hill had been more than just a little trip as the road rash scattered up your left side proved. You carefully cleaned the wound out with only a few bad winces and cursing your misfortune quite a lot and then stripped and climbed into the shower to thoroughly clean the rest of you off. Once you decided you were sufficiently clean you stepped out of the shower and pulled the spare set of injury clothes you kept in the bathroom for cases like these. Your injury clothing consisted of a tank top and loose gym shorts so that you could reach anywhere you needed to easily. Bandaging your side was even less fun until a knock sounded at the door.

“You’ve been in there for quite some time, little one,” Loki called and his voice became more mischievous “do you need help?”

“NO!” you all but shrieked and blushed furiously as you hurried to finish, also having to wrap your ankle since it no longer really wanted to hold your weight. Loki was waiting outside the door for you with a smirk on his face that faltered for just a moment.

“Looks like you took quite a tumble little one,” he taunted and you gave a small shrug.

“It happens,” you sighed “loose patch of dirt here, misplaced step there, everybody takes a bad tumble at least once out here.” you started towards the kitchen and Loki followed.

“How come your powers didn’t save you?” Loki asked and you shot him a confused look “sorry, you’re ‘gut feeling’.”

“It’s not like it’s always there,” you told him hesitantly “and I wasn’t really paying that much attention either.” Loki nodded and followed you into the kitchen to watch you work. After a few minutes you held one of the knives out to him “want to chop up the potatoes?” you offered “it’ll make dinner go faster I promise.”

“Only to make the meal completed faster,” Loki growled after a moment and took the knife from you and you smiled.

Not too long after the two of you were talking about magic again, you grilling him over magic theory and its application, and him seeing how in depth he could get and still have you understand enough to follow. Over all the night was nice.


	10. Chapter 10

“Are we finally going to town?” Loki asked tiredly as you poked him awake the next morning.

“Yep,” you chirped “I called Gregori already so he’ll have actual clothing waiting for us when we swing by the store.”

“Gregori?” Loki grumbled as you pulled him up and shoved a large blanket at him “Little one, I don’t need this,” he protested.

“Better safe than sorry,” you told him and made him take the blanket.

Loki just sighed and let you lead him out to the jeep, tossing him his boots as you went. You made sure he was tucked in warmly in his seat and buckled him tightly again before going around to your side of the car.

“Why do your buckle me in so tightly again?” Loki complained, still half asleep.

“Trust me,” you muttered as you rolled out your shoulders “you’ll be glad I locked it in a few moments.”

“Why would IAAAAAAAA-” Loki broke out into a scream as you floored the gas with a small smirk hidden under the scarf.

-

Loki was shaking when you arrived in town, pulling in slowly into the parking space with a sheepish smile “sorry,” you told him “I like to go fast.”

“No kidding,” Loki breathed, fingers gripping the door handle so tightly that he had left permanent marks.

“Morning kid!” Gregori called from the sidewalk as you hopped out and worried over to help Loki out of the car “this your visitor?” he looked about as twice amused as you felt.

Loki was still shaking slightly as he took your offered hand but quickly worked to compose himself while you grabbed the clothing from Gregori “yeah. Gregori, Tom. Tom, Gregori.” you introduced them, using the same face name from before while fishing out a shirt for Loki.

“Nice to meet you Tom,” Gregori told him.

“Nice to meet you as well,” Loki managed and Gregori laughed.

“[y/n]’s a bit of a handful isn’t she?” he teased and you blushed ever so slightly while stuffing the spare clothing into the back.

“Quite,” Loki said and finally got over the ride and offered a charming smile “I assume she normally hurtles down the mountain like that?”

“Every chance she gets,” Gregori chuckled “nearly gave Doc a heart attack once.”

“Tom, put the shirt on,” you cut in glancing around “people are starting to stare.”

Loki looked around and sent a smile to a group of woman who absolutely _swooned_ at his look “I am aware.”

“So put the shirt on,” you told him in exasperation and Loki put the clothing on a moment later “we gotta run and do errands Gregori or I’d stay and talk,” you promised the shop owner and he shrugged.

“You’re an adult [y/n],” he said with a smile “go be responsible.”

“Thank you,” you shot him a thankful smile and shoved Loki back into the car “I swear if you try and flirt with any of the women here I’m turning us around, Tom.” you muttered. You saw a flash of mischief in his eyes and instantly dreaded what was coming next as he suddenly spun around and grabbed your hand to kiss the top of your hand. “Car. Tom.” you warned with a glance at Gregori who was raising an eyebrow.

Loki flashed you a cocky grin but climbed into his seat and buckled himself in. “Bye Greg,” you said quickly and quickly hurried to your side and pulled out of the parking lot. Loki watched you as you nervously drummed your fingers on the steering wheel, at one point going around the same block of housing twice before you finally ended up pulling into the supermarket parking lot.

“Alright, so shopping list,” you started as you offered Loki a hand out again, pulling the list out of your pocket absentmindedly, missing the slight smile Loki had on his face as he took your hand again “Pancake mix, sugar, potatoes, stew meat, apples, milk…” Loki let you tug him along but interrupted a moment later.

“Are you sure you want to leave your car unlocked like that?” he asked and you glanced back in confusion.

“It’s not like anyone’s going to take anything,” you said and Loki raised an eyebrow “it’s the farm area of Idaho,” you told him and got a blank stare “super small town, we’d all know if anyone tried anything and that was if they didn’t get shot for trying to steal someones truck,” you sighed “at least if you try and steal a truck farm. Never a good idea by the way,” you warned him and he chuckled softly.

You ignored the tittering female workers as you wound your way through the store, hooking one arm through the basket and holding Loki by the hand with the other while you found the various items you needed and stopping when you reached the flour and realized your mistake. Luckily one of the male workers stepped up before Loki could get to confused.

“Need help miss [y/n]?” they asked gently and you gave him a relieved smile.

“Yes, thank you. I should have probably gotten Tom to carry the basket but he’s healing.” the worker shot Loki a carefully blank look before nodding and scooping up one of the large bags of flower.

“You getting anything else today?” they asked and you nodded “I’ll go set this at the front for you then.”

“Thank you so much,” you called after the worker.

“I am not bedridden, I can carry a simple basket,” Loki protested softly as you continued through the store.

“Yes but you supposedly recently had stitches and a normal person's shoulders would still be a fairly large mess,” you shot back just as softly “so be a dear and grab me the milk?”

Loki pulled the jug of milk out and set it into your basket “how are you even carrying that?” he questioned “I was under the impression your kind wasn’t that strong.”

You shot him a look “first off, if that ‘your kind’ comment was directed at my gender how dare,” you hissed “and secondly, I do work out fairly regularly. A heavy basket is hardly a problem.”

“You are injured as well,” he reminded you.

“I’ve dealt with worse,” you told him.

“So have I.” the two spent a few minutes staring each other down, neither refusing to relent.

“Excuse me?”

“What?” both you and Loki snapped at the same time, you a little more gently then him but far more defencive. A young girl was standing in front of the two of you looking nervous.

“Well, I was just wondering how long you-well both of you I guess, would be in town?” she asked hesitantly, a thick blush creeping across her face. You internally groaned.

Loki turned to you with a sly grin “well that all depends on my gracious host,” he purred.

You gave Loki a glare before looking back to the girl “he’s accompanying me on my normal errands, but we should be in town until two ish to make sure we’ve gotten everything.”

“Oh! Um well…” she trailed off with a glance at Loki who you could safely assume was smiling at her “I was hoping…”

You wanted to drag a hand down your face. Teenage girls, oh good grief. “He’s still injured and shouldn’t be doing to much, but this is Tom,” you told her begrudgingly “Tom play nice for ten minutes while I get the rest of the stuff on my list. Do not leave the store,” you warned him and Loki just sent you another sly smirk before kissing the top of the girls hand.

“It would be my pleasure to entertain with wonderful young lady.”

You shook your head in mild exasperation before trotting off to finish shopping, you even checked out and took everything out to the car before returning to grab Loki. The crowd of girls around him had your heart sink “TOM!” you called and the raven haired male swung his gaze towards you with a grin “Leave your fangirls alone and come on!” at the chorus of ‘awwws’ and Loki's soft goodbye that had some of the girls swooning you were about ready to go home.

“Good morning little one,” Loki said pleasantly and stepped into the jeep as you held the door open for him “where are we off to next?”

“Farmer supplies,” you sighed as you pulled out onto the road, trying to ignore the waving hoard of teenage girls “I need some stuff to do repairs before snow even starts to show up.”

“Why is that” Loki asked curiously.

“Because with everything other than driving, I work worse in the cold,” you admitted “and I need these repairs done right.”

“Can I help you carry things this time?” Loki asked and you shot him an exasperated look “so that’s a no?” he asked with a smile.

“Yes, it’s a no,” you told him “don’t make girls flock to my car or we’ll be supper delayed.”

“I make no promises,” Loki purred as you pulled up at the next stop.

“Of course,” you muttered.

-

“I hate you.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Yes I do.”

“Are you sure?~”

“Very.”

“Then why help me?”

“Just because I help someone does not mean I like them.”

Loki gasped and put a hand over his chest in mock pain “Well then what could I have done to warrant such hate?” he pouted.

“You flocked just about every girl in town to my car!” you shouted and took a turn sharper than you needed to, relishing in the momentary flash of panic on Loki's face before he flattened out his mask again. Loki was about to protest when you slid into a well practiced drift and were backing up under the awning where you kept your jeep and you flashed a Loki an innocent smile as he took a rattling breath and carefully pulled his hand away from its still life grip from the various hand holds around the interior of the jeep.

“We’re home!~” you sang as you turned the jeep off and hopped out of the door. Loki thought you were going to leave him to suffer but to his surprise the next thing you knew you were pulling open his door and holding out a hand.

“I think I like you,” he breathed and flashed a smile that miraculously didn’t waver.

You rolled your eyes and pulled him gently from the car “you pull that trick again and I won’t bring you to town again, or better yet I’ll leave you there next time.”

“Well that would certainly be a pleasant experience,” Loki hummed “I get to bask in the presence of adorable short women either way.”

“Excuse you, Ava was two inches taller than you,” you shot back.

“I highly doubt that woman is normal.” you didn’t try and fight him on that point and instead shoved the lightest few bags of groceries into his arms.

“I’ll be in soon,” you sighed and turned him towards the house “go warm things up or take a shower or something while I put things away.”

Loki didn’t protest as he made his way inside into the house and made a beeline for the shower. He would never admit it but your driving skills absolutely terrified him, maybe one day he would get used to them but for now they were far to unpredictable and unnatural for his tastes as he was not the one in control. Onedrive with you to or from your house was going to leave him rattled for a good ten minutes, luckily less as he was able to calm down under the steady stream of water raining down from above.

Once he was done he pulled on a pair of fluffy pajama pants and checked the stitches in the mirror. You’d probably have to remove them tonight and that was not something he was looking forwards to. He pulled on a loose button up shirt and at a moment's pause used magic to dry and arrange his hair. He grinned happily as his magic responded easily and did as it was bid. He could feel most of what he could and couldn’t go but his stores of magic were quickly replenishing and he didn’t doubt that he would be back to almost full strength by the end of the month.


	11. Chapter 11

You woke up far to soon but also not fast enough for your tastes as you pushed the blanket off of your face and headed to the kitchen, staggering slightly as you walked, and poured yourself a glass of orange juice to try and get the taste of blood out of your mouth. You then stood leaning heavily on the counter while your arms shook and fought down the rolling feeling of nausea.

“This is gonna kill me one of these days,” you choked out.

“What will Little one?”

Your head snapped up to see Loki leaning against the wall in the hallway looking almost as tired as you. “You heard nothing,” you tried weakly.

“No,” Loki said coolly “I very much heard you. What is going to kill you.”

You pressed your lips into a firm line. You were not talking about this with him. He was a random stranger you were helping, not your best friend or therapist.

“Is it your brother?”

“What?” you choked out. You would have dropped your cup had you still been holding it.

“I take it I was right then,” Loki mused and pushed off the wall to sink into one of the chairs at the table, his green eyes boring into your own “let’s play the game.”

“No,” you said softly.

“[y/n],” Loki said coolly “I will get my answers.”

“Why?” you hissed, shaking again but worse now “why do you need to know?”

“Because it is obviously affecting you and I am tired of you dancing around the subject,” Loki said bluntly, leaning back as he waited for you to start talking.

It took you several minutes before you moved around the counter to sit across from him, eyes stuck on your hands on the table, and then several more minutes for you to start talking. “I was twelve, Tori wasn’t… he wasn’t a normal person. He was mildly telekinetic and could move things but not much more than that. People in town thought he was a threat.

“So, the main leaders of the town decided one night that I wasn’t safe with him either and that he was a danger to the entire world, that his existence threatened their own and that he was some kind of witch. They… it was the middle of the night when they came, right before the first snowfall funnily enough, and… they dragged him out of the house yelling something or other about magic and him murdering innocents, witch he didn’t,” you added hotly “I woke up about the time they were beating him in the yard and trying him to a pole. I didn’t really understand quite was happening until they poured gasoline on the logs at his feet. By then it was to late and the others had caught me to stop me from helping him and dragged be into town.

“I spent the next four years with one of the families, they moved away several years after this, but with almost the entire town trying to tell me that I was lucky that they had come and gotten me, and that they were so sorry that they hadn’t done something sooner.” you gave a short broken laugh “my sixteen birthday couldn’t have come fast enough. The second I was able I got Jonna to buy me a jeep and hightailed it back up here. They only let me stay if I came back down into town once a week until I was eighteen. When I came back up they had destroyed and burnt down my brothers part of the house as well as anything that had belonged to him, claiming it was contaminated when I asked.”

“So that is why the doctor took the shirt,” Loki murmured as he began to connect the dots and nodded “excuse me for being so forward, but how old was your brother where this happened and where were your parents? Surely they should have stopped this?”

“Twentyone, and dead,” you told Loki softly.

There were several minutes of silence before Loki stood and took you by the hand and gently tugged your hand to make you follow him back to the bedroom. “Loki, I really don’t feel like-” he cut you off by shoving you onto the bed.

“Shh, little one,” he murmured gently “you’re almost as injured as I am, let me repay you for your kindness somehow.”

“I’ve got a road rash,” you sniffed as he curled up around you “how is that almost as injured as you are?” there was a soft green glow nearby as the thick blankets were pulled over the both of you and turned into Loki’s comfortingly cool chest as sleep came far faster than it ever normally did.

“Not in the way I ment little one,” Loki whispered ever so softly as you drifted off in his arms, resting his chin on the top of your head as he held you close “not in that way…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY LOKI FINALLY STARTS TO FEEL THINGS ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE!!!! GOOD FOR HIM
> 
> Our boy’s gonna start caring more WOOt Woot! Here comes the relationship train kids and Loki’s buying his ticket. Now we get to see if the reader follows suit


	12. Chapter 12

You woke slowly, the soreness in your throat and dull aching pain in your side finally rousing you. You curled up a little tighter on your bed with a low moan of protest, it was so nice to be curled up under the warm covers with a cool pillow and a still dark room. Wait. your slowly opened your eyes and found yourself staring across the room, slowly shifting your gaze you looked up at the cool person you had curled yourself around and felt your heart skip a beat. Oh dear.

“Good to see you finally woke up,” Loki droned as he flipped to the next page in his book.

You felt like dying inside as last night's events rushed into your mind “I am so sorry,” you whispered.

“Then teach me how to make the pancakes as an apology,” Loki said looking up from the book.

-

Loki spent the next three days making you teach him how to cook things, or showing him how you did things around the house, or other random things that you normally filled your day with, pestering you relentlessly until he got what he wanted. You never asked how he was keeping up with you, or why he wasn’t resting more, or why he was interested. Instead you made him show you small magic tricks that didn’t take him any effort and carry a spare tool or too. You didn’t want to admit it but you thought he might be fully healed at this point and would probably end up leaving before winter actually set in.

You started searching the internet for good dog breeds at insane hours when you couldn’t sleep for one reason or another.

Loki found out what you normally did during the day not to long after.

“Little one, what are you doing?” he mumbled, almost sleepy as he looked towards you. The two of you were sitting outside in the soft grass enjoying the sunny weather while it lasted. You had set up a canvas in front of you with an array of paints spread out next to you as you made another set of stokes on the canvas.

“You moved~” you whined loudly as he began to sit up with a smirk “NO GO BACK!”

Loki let out a soft laugh as you fretted over his position “is it possible,” he purred “that you are painting my beautiful features?”

“Perhaps,” you mumbled back, holding the paintbrush in your mouth as you located the color you needed.

Loki chuckled “well good luck than little one, I doubt any of you petty midgardians-”

“If you diss my painting skills I will literally stab you,” you snapped back around the brush.

“Oh my,” Loki purred “that’s a bit extreme don’t you think?”

“I sell my art as part of my living,” you told him flatly “I had to get good or I never would have made it. This’ll be the first painting I’ve done just because in a while.”

“And you chose me as your subject matter?” Loki teased.

You shot him a look “No, I chose my lawn.” he snorted at your sarcasm.

“I did not think Midgardian artists made a lot of money,” he mused after a moment.

“I worked on some really big projects a few years back and get paid royalties,” you explained as you kept working “along with a few large pieces for some private collectors that got me well known. I’ll admit I didn’t make a lot when I started out but like I said, I got good.”

“What were some of the big projects?” Loki asked curiously.

“Well there was one for some tech company, Star I think? I don’t really remember, but they had me do a humongous painting of the workers of their company and like to use it every chance they get. Then there was the one I did for a movie company,” you rambled.

“Stark industries?” Loki asked and you nodded.

“Yeah, probably. Why?”

Loki paused “I think I’ve seen that painting.”

“Fairly certain the owner of the company has it in the lobby so I wouldn’t be surprised,” you sigh “every single one of his employees either told me he was an ass, a genius, or both.”

Loki laughed “they weren’t wrong.”

“You’ve met him?”

Loki pulled a face that made you smile “yes.”

“That bad?” you asked as you added a few more touches to the fleecy sweeter Loki was wearing.

“I swear, if I wanted to kill myself I would jump from that mans ego to his IQ,” Loki grumbled.

“He’s an inventor though isn’t he-”

“My point still stands.” You burst out laughing “Him and the sorcerer supreme here, I swear,” Loki muttered.

You chuckled to yourself as you continued painting, quickly adding in more implied detail to the grass and trees as you went before fading and piecing it out towards the edges of the canvas so that it almost looked light a scene out of a fairly tail. You grinned in satisfaction as you hid your signature in the corner of the painting and started packing up your supplies.

“Can I see it now?” Loki asked rolling over.

“Yeah, come on over,” you told him and spun the canvas around so he could see.

Loki made a pleased noise as he looked the painting over and eventually returned it to you with a smile “it is done very well, are you going to end up selling this one?”

You shrugged “prints of it maybe, but not the original canvas.”

“How come you never mentioned you paint before?” Loki asked curiously as he helped you carry your art supplies back into the house.

“I never really felt the need,” you said shrugging as you set the brushes in their place and started dropping paint tubes into the bucket “I mean I do a lot of weird things up here to pass the time, especially in the winter.”

“Like?” Loki prompted curiously.

“Like I can play the guitar,” you said thinking “and I’ve gotten really good at solving rubix cubes, and I sew, not well mind you, and lets see,” you gave a sigh as you tried to think of some of the other possibly weird things you do.

“And use a sword apparently,” Loki mused.

You pointed a finger back at him with a snap “yes, that too. By the way, you said I worked horribly…” you started to trail off there, getting slightly embarrassed.

Loki quirked an eyebrow up in amusement “yes I did. Are you bringing it up so I can mock you more?”

You hesitated “possibly?”

Loki grinned “how about you show me your knife skills first?” he teased.

You smiled right back “sure.”

-

“There is no way you’re that good!” you shouted in protest as Loki got a perfect bullseye for the tenth time in the last minute.

“Jealous little one,” he teased.

“How do you even get that good, that shouldn’t be physically possibly!”

“Oh I could do much better,” Loki said grinning.

“No.” you crossed your arms in disbelief.

“I prove it and you make chocolate pancakes?”

“Deal.”

**_Thukthunkthukthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunk thunk thunk_ **

“Is…. that a smiley face?”

“You owe me chocolate pancakes little one.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this and the next chapter(or two?) are mainly going to involve mostly innocent but drunken shenanigans. just a heads up now.

Loki was shaking as he stepped out of the car, almost not taking your hand as you laughed at him “you’re horrible,” he hissed.

You grinned and pulled him inside the store “Morning Gregori!” you called happily and made a beeline for the medical area of the store.

“Morning [y/n], Tom!” Gregori called back with a chuckle.

You tossed the items you needed into Loki’s arms while he muttered under his breath about not being a slave as you dragged him off again. After a collective total two hours of sleep in the last 46 hours and three coffees mixed with energy drinks that Loki didn’t know about, you were feeling surprisingly good. You added at least three bags of mixed candy to Loki’s arms before the two of you checked out and hurried back to the car.

The first snow had come and gone at this point and Loki was going to celebrate Halloween with you by dressing up, scaring the heck out of the kids by driving around the edges of the town and pelting people with candy from the safety of the inside of the jeep. It’s half open top piece had now long since been replaced with a solid one to keep out the snow but other than that it was still very open. Not that it mattered with all of the layers you worse anyways.

“ _Tom~_ ”

You groaned and tried to pull Loki to the car faster.

“ _Oh Tom!~_ ”

“Sorry Jacqueline!” you shouted back as you hurried to pull out your keys “we’re really busy today!” the raven haired girl had taken a huge interest in ‘Tom’ and so far had tried to ask him out and or invite him to stay and heal at her house over twenty times. You and Loki had only come to town together a max of four times. Loki thought it was hilarious.

“Oh but we could make time,” Loki said peeling away from you, evading your grabbing hands as you tried to pull him back “hello Jacqueline~”

You groaned and grabbed the things from Loki instead and packed them in the backseat, going over your shopping list as they ‘talked’. You definitely needed more stuff for bread and it was about time to start hoarding food again to make sure you would have more than enough to last through getting snowed in in the winter for two people, one of witch ate an extraordinary amount. As you stepped away from the car and turned your foot slipped on something and you were thrown extremely off balance..

You felt a flair of panic as you fell towards your jeep, scared for a moment you would end up cracking your head open on the step of your own car or at least end up with a killer headache but before your thoughts could go any further a cool hand had caught you by the wrist and another snaked behind you a split second later and you swung up bridal style into a pair of much larger arms.

“Little one,” Loki chided as he looked down at your blushing face “you’re closer to the ground, shouldn’t you have more control over your feet?”

“Oh shut up, I’m not the one who should have gone to a hospital,” you muttered as Loki flashed you a sly grin. You glanced towards Jacqueline and saw her shooting you a heated glare fueled by jealousy.

“Until we meet again darling,” Loki purred, shooting a wink at Jacqline as he made his way around the car and set you in your seat with a murmured ‘thank you’ from you.

When you arrived at the clothing store Loki seemed about ready to quietly die from excitement. Before you could blink Loki was handing you clothing to try on while he found various possible clothing items for himself. Before you could protest he was shoving you into a changing room and then next thing you knew you had a new deep green and yellow, almost gold, patterned dress, durable form fitting jeans, and three new shirts that Loki had insisted looked amazing on you. You were fairly certain one of them had the horns from his helmet on them. You didn’t even know what Loki had picked other than a nice black dress shirt and a large green and yellow,again almost gold, sweater.

You were still in a daze when you pulled up to the foodstore and proceeded to buy more food than you needed as well as a large tub of ice cream. And then Loki was surrounded by girls again. You let them fawn over ‘Tom’ while you loaded up the car, actually buckling in the bags of groceries to make sure they didn’t move around to much. Once you were done you climbed into your car and turned the radio up and pushed Loki’s door open, watching and waiting as he bid the girls goodbye and hopped in.

“Have fun?” you asked him tiredly.

“Oh I could have had so much more if I didn’t think it would worry you,” Loki smirked and you swatted him on the shoulder only to get more of a smirk in response.

“Think we should stay around and wait at the park?” you asked hesitantly, drumming your fingers against the steering wheel as you stopped at a red light.

“What’s going on at the park?” Loki asked curiously.

“Did I not…” you sighed as the light changed and you continued “well we got invited to watch fireworks tonight at the park with everyone else. We’d probably spend the rest of the day around town until then if you want to watch.”

Loki considered this for a moment “few questions, what about the ice cream?”

“It’s cold enough that it’ll be fine.”

“How long would the fireworks be?”

“Only like twenty minutes max.”

“Oh well then there’s really no point-”

“And then they break out the booze.”

“Oh,” Loki said in slight surprise.

“And then about an hour after that they shove the kids inside and _really_ break out the booze,” you sighed.

Loki grinned “oh well then I’d love to see that.”

You snorted “so I take it we’re staying then?”

“That depends, do you want to stay?” Loki asked and you hesitated slightly “I’m assuming most if not all of the adults would be there yes?”

“... yes.”

“And that includes the dear doctor and his cohorts,” Loki said casually leaning back in his seat.

“... yes.”

“We do not have to go if you don’t want to,” Loki told you.

“Do you want to go?” you asked Loki.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

You knew he was smiling in the short pause that followed “will there be beautiful women?”

You shot Loki an exasperated look “Loki, _no_.”

“We’re in town,” Loki reminded you calmly and you wanted to slap yourself for not referring to him as Tom “and is that a no on the women?” You settled for pulling a sharp turn and watching Loki grab onto the door in alarm before quickly smoothing out his mask and turning back to you with an exasperated look of his own. “Was that really necessary?”

“Yes.” you said with a mischievous grin.

“You are incorrigible,” Loki muttered.

You chuckled “so ice cream?”

“You just bought some,” Loki muttered.

“Is that a no?”

“How about we try that breakfast place named after a man instead,” Loki sighed.

You shot him a suspicious look “only if you promise not to try and seduce the waiters.”

Loki smiled “I would _never_.”

-

Loki was starting to regret letting you take him to see the fireworks. Not for his own sake of course, no, he was gleefully drinking all of the other men under the table and swooning women left and right, you on the other hand… Loki glanced over towards you again between shots in slowly growing concern. You were penned in on all sides by a small group of men close to your age, two of which were oh so very much drunk. When you started to look a little panicked and he could feel whatever lies you were letting them rolling off of you he got up to intervene.

“Excuse me, I’ll be right back gentlemen,” he said sweetly and chuckled when he got a bountiful amount of rude gestures and curses in return.

Loki quickly cut in as he reached you and snagged your wrist, pulling you up with his arms wrapped around your shoulders before they could stop him. He had caught the last bit of the conversation where the men were trying to convince you to stay the night with at least one of them and not in a friendly manner either. Loki flashed them all a charming smile as he rested his chin on the top of you head.

“I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting any of you yet,” he rumbled “you’re all friends of the little one I hope?”

The men looked a little stunned to see him there and Loki decided that the blonde in the center was the only not drunk one in the group, in fact he seemed perfectly sober. And it was that exact man who spoke first before his friends could start swearing “yeah, [y/n] and us go way back,” he said smiling right back at Loki “you’d be Tom right? The girls always get excited when you two come in. What’s it like living with [y/n]?”

“I am indeed Tom,” Loki held out a hand to the man “and it has been wonderful, she’s a more than adequate host and has taken very good care of me.”

“Really?” the man said interested as he took Loki’s hand and jokingly added “maybe I should go get myself injured out in the woods then.”

“I’d just drop you off back here,” you muttered softly.

“Anyways, I think I’m going to see if my lovely host can be the one to finally out drink me,” Loki said with a smirk as he pulled you away from the group.

“Why don’t I,” the man offered and gave a charming smile that Loki instantly disliked but forced himself to smile back.

“Of course,” he purred and then almost as if in an act of retaliation swept you off of your feet and into his arms before coming back to the table.

“What are you doing?” you hissed softly as he carried you to the table.

“Playing the role of a handsome prince as always,” he said just as softly before sitting down with you in his lap “good news boys, I’ve got a fresh challenger.”

“OI~” one of the older men slurred “Don’t you… Don’t you make her get in the drunk, K? She drvs real fast and if she gets killed it’ll end up with her dead.” Loki bit back a laugh as the old man continued to struggle to show his concern that you **do not** get drunk.

“Oh don’t worry, she’s not my current target,” Loki purred.

“Good,” one of the other men chuckled “cause she’ll either crash and burn or run you over kid.”

The man from before sat across from you and Loki with a smile just as forced as Loki’s “shall we begin?” he asked sweetly.

“Of course,” Loki said just as sweetly back.

It took. A. Full. Half. Hour.

“How have you been drinking this long?” you asked in amazement as Loki purred proudly in your ear and tightened his arms around you, watching with eyes half lidded as his opponent was carted off by the other guests.

“Grew up drinking,” Loki told you in a slightly louder normal voice “‘m brother ‘n I would see who could drink more all the time. Thor won most of the time when I didn’t spike his drink though,” he chuckled at the memory “itwasgreat.”

“Looks like you’re finally actually drunk,” you sighed and carefully worked your way out of his arms “what did it take? Three crates of vodka? Four?”

“Many,” Loki purred and tried to pull you back into his lap. Instead you pulled him out of his chair with a grunt.

“Come on Tom,” you muttered, shoving him towards your jeep while pulling off your coat to tuck around him.

“I really don’t like you calling me that,” Loki muttered with a pout and you sped up “why can’t you call me Lo-”

“I’m not going to call you love,” you snapped over him, shooting a glance at the people behind you.

Loki whined something in another language and you all but threw him into the jeep and quickly tossed a scarf over his face. He whined of course but you worked fast and soon he was bundled up and buckled tightly and you were hurrying over to the other side of the vehicle calling a goodbye to everyone else there. Doc only managed half a sentence of asking why you weren’t wearing a coat before you pulled out of your parking spot and were heading away.

It was close to an hour later when Loki spoke, you were driving much slower to not freak him out while he was drunk, and his words almost made you miss the turn.

“You have really nice hair, you know that?” and then he was drifting off leaving you confused and flattered but overall cold because he was snuggled up in your coat.


	14. Chapter 14

It was halloween and this was not how you had intended to spend it.

Sure, you and Loki had spent a wonderful time scaring the towns high school population as they attempted to scare other people through both, jump scares, being creepy, or in one case-letting Loki use an unnoticeable amount of magic to terrify them. And you say unnoticeable because it could have been explained away by special effects. that did not mean that he did not make them get chased by giant spiders though.

And then Thomas and his friends had found you and more or less strong armed both of you into joining all of the other adults at the bar and partaking in their horrible drinking game. Despite the fact that Loki had drunk almost all of the men under the table last time you had been in town. The ladies seemed to be wanting him to challenge him now and apparently the only way to do so was through a game.

You put your head in your hands as another cheer came up through the group as Loki slapped down the cup with a smug smirk on his face. That was his tenth full CUP of beer in a row and the entire group had been drinking for close to a solid two hours. The girl across the table from him spat out a curse and in a moment of rage threw what was left of her cup at Loki who caught the cup but not the alcohol. The look of resigned disgust from him like this had happened before almost made you laugh. Instead you took both cups from the table and handed them back to the bartender as the next contestant sat down.

This particular game was not a complicated one. It was really quite stupid actually. Who can finish their drink first. As dumb as it was it proved quite difficult after the first few rounds if you weren’t used to it. You suffered through twenty more minutes of this before someone suggested assassination from somewhere in the back of the room. You felt like a deer in the headlights for a moment as grins turned towards you. Your friend Jonna nudged you with a smirk.

“You are joining us for this one right?” she asked.

“I hate you.”

“That’s not a no~”

Loki looked curious as the tables were rearranged into a large circle and the bartenders got the shot glasses ready. You were shuffled to a chair across the circle from him and gave him a tired look as the glasses were handed out. Whelp, time to let him figure the game out for himself since you certainly didn’t have time to explain it to him. When the bartender called drink three people gagged and you saw four more grimace. Loki looked amused but still a little confused at what was going on. The three that had gagged were pulled out and glasses were pushed around the table and traded everyone trying to end up with a safe glass but having a hard time since most of them were already drunk. The next round someone nearly threw up but you couldn’t really blame them. Seven people were pulled that round for giving obvious signs that they had gotten an unsafe glass. It was two rounds and ten out people before you got an unsafe glass. It tasted like someone had distilled a sewer, skunk spray, and the sweatiest pair of socks on the earth into a tiny glass but you hardly batted an eyelid. You had played this game for your entire life(though admittedly a slightly different version until you were of drinking age) but Jonna flipped you off when she was called out for gagging.

You wanted to laugh as you saw Loki get an unsafe cup and you knew he knew he had an unsafe cup too. Your grinned at him as you downed your own drink and watched the slight twitch to his face as he forced himself to swallow. It wasn’t to long after that that it was just the two of you and one other dude sitting at a table together. There would be two unsafe cups and their vileness would be worse than any of the other previous times. Even you had trouble masking your expression for the last round and the bartenders would be watching your faces like hawks.

You grinned at Loki as you downed your cup, fighting down the urge to hurl and forcing that bright smile that had won you the game so many times before. The look of dawning horror on Loki's face as he picked up his own cup was completely worth the time you would probably spend throwing up after this. It was made even better when you realized he didn’t have the safe glass either and almost threw up on the spot. The other man took one look at his drink, at Loki, then at you and just turned his cup over. The bar exploded into cheering and you let them shout your name for a few moments, basking in your hard won victory, and then quietly slipped out into the bathroom to throw up for the next ten minutes.

When you came back the bar was back to normal and some of the other ‘responsible adults’ were asking for another round of assassination. The bartenders maintained their rule of one assassination game per night so instead they tried to get you to attempt to outdrink Loki.

“I have to drive home tonight guys,” you whined “if both of us are drunk you know that wont end well.”

The group of older men and women around you suddenly grew more somber and one of them murmured “we won’t ask anymore tonight. We don’t want you to end up in a ditch again.”

People left you alone with your choice of soda after that, reminders quickly spreading through the bar that you definitely needed to not be drunk so that you could get home safe. There was of course one or two people who thought that meant you HAD to be drunk to get home but that was quickly sorted out by the more sober people in the room.

It was well past midnight when Loki wandered over to you with a drink in hand and a wide smile on his face, staggering a little bit as he walked and gave a small giggle as he leaned over on you. You let out a small huff and shoved against him to stay upright, it was like having a wall lean on you. “Yes Tom?” you managed.

“Don’t call me that,” Loki pouted “call me Lo-”

“Love?”

Loki’s face lit up in a blissful smile “mhm.”

“Ok love,” you sighed “how about you take a seat and tell me how much you’ve been drinking?”

“A LOT,” Loki groaned “Migardians make pathetic beer!” he whined loudly.

You smacked him lightly and he gave a small and hurt ‘ow’ “shh,” you warned him “how many drinking games have you been in?” Loki paused before trying to count on his fingers and spilling the alcohol out of his cup that he then stared down at in disappointment “Love? How many games?” you repeated with a sigh.

“More than you,” he muttered and looked up at you with suddenly pleading eyes “can you drink with me?” he tugged on your sleeve like a small child trying to get their parent to give them something.

“I have to drive,” you reminded him gently.

“But why do you have to not drink….” Loki pouted and looked towards someone as they tipped over a chair, seemingly lost in thought for a moment before turning back to you with a pleading child like expression “drink with me?”

You ran a hand down your face “no.” Loki looked like he was about to cry “how about this,” you were regretting every word out of your mouth now “when we go home and if you’re still awake I’ll drink with you.” 

His face lit up and he pulled you off of the stool, almost making you hit the floor as you cried out in surprise “let’s go home then!”

The other people in the bar chuckled or laughed as Loki pulled out out of the bar, running into the doorframe on his way out but simply rebounding like a little kid and continuing on his way. Everyone thought it was adorable. Everyone but a group of men in the back corner of the bar.

Doc sipped on his own cup of beer as he watched you through the window as you shoved Loki into his seat and stuffed a blanket around him to keep him warm before heading over to your own side of the jeep and eventually pulling out of the parking lot “I think,” the doctor began slowly “it’s time we started looking into our dear [y/n]s current charge.”

-

The drive home was slow and long and the second Loki was asleep you pulled the blanket up to cover his face and sped up slightly. Tonight had been… not horrible despite the interruption of your normal halloween routine. You would miss then when he eventually left, the voices in the house, the mornings made easier by knowing you weren’t alone, having someone to look after besides yourself.

You were getting a dog the same day he left if not sooner. Maybe that would make things more bearable.

When you got home you dragged Loki into the house, onto your bed, and then pulled his boots and socks off before throwing a blanket over him and moving out to the couch next to the fireplace. When you closed your eyes two hours later you were smiling at the memory of his horrified face as he thought you had gotten a safe glass. _Ha, take that ‘god of lies’, you got out tricked._


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this one get's a little angsty? I have no idea but it's definitely not as lighthearted as I try and make everything else until the very end.
> 
> Oh, and all spoken asgardian will now be in bold italics while within ""

“You said you would drink with me.”

“You remember that?”

“You said it.”

“Loki it’s not even eight in the morning!”

“Great, we have plenty of time to drink then.”

You wanted to scream into the sky as Loki continued to pester you about your promise last night. It was the first thing out of his mouth after asking you for painkillers for his hangover. Instead you decided to ignore him and keep making waffles.

“Why does my shirt smell of alcohol?”

“Because someone threw a cup of beer at you.”

“Oh right, that did happen didn’t it,” Loki mused “so are we drinking or not?”

“Not right now!”

“Well obviously not, that’s what I’m trying to fix!” Loki whined and you shot him a glare.

You set down the spatula you were holding and turned to face him “first off, you can almost survive the assassination game and that’s never a good sign, second, you drank just about everyone under the table, third, you drank all night last night and there is no way I can compete with that. Trying to out drink you would leave me vulnerable in my own home away from any form of help with a person who gets very touchy when they’re tipsy.” you snapped at him.

Loki watched you for close to a solid minute, his face a perfect mask and for a split second you were worried you had seriously hurt his feelings with that last comment before he leaned down over you and hissed “you lied.” 

All thoughts ground to a halt and you stared back up at him “what?”

His eyes narrowed “how often have you drunk Little one?”

You looked at him in confusion for a moment before answering “I mean I hardly drink any more since I hate staying overnight at town, but before I turned the legal american drinking age?” you hesitated and let out a soft hiss through your teeth “well let’s just say my ‘friends’ thought it was cute when I got drunk.”

Loki paused and you suddenly realized he had been tense and suspicious before, now he just seemed curious “is it not illegal for you to be drinking before twenty one here?” he asked and you nodded “when did they start getting you drunk?”

You stopped making breakfast for a moment as you remembered the first time anyone had purposefully gotten you drunk “I was nine,” you started carefully “and my brother made sure it never happened again while he was around.”

Loki somehow missed your hesitation on the subject “what happened?”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” you stated stiffly and turned back to making the food “but the kids of the people who were taking care of me got me full out drunk three nights after I arrived. It turned into them getting a bottle in my hands whenever they could without their parents noticing.”

“How are you not an alcoholic as bad as Stark then?” Loki asked curiously and you shot him a rueful smile.

“I built up a tolerance to the stuff surprisingly fast and by the time I was fifteen it had become a once a month competition for the other teens to try and outdrink me. And I’m not a total alcoholic because I don’t love forgetting enough to leave myself that vulnerable to anyone ever again.”

Loki leaned towards you with a dark smile “but you’ve left yourself vulnerable to me many times Little one.”

“Well that says something doesn’t it?” you hummed and Loki was taken back for a moment until you continued “option A, I trust you enough to do so, option B, I don’t think you’re a threat, or option C, I’m never completely vulnerable around you. Take your pick.” now he looked a little offended and you shot him an apologetic look “sorry, I can promise you it’s not B though?”

Loki nodded and was quiet until the two of you were sitting down with breakfast in hand “I never said I wanted to outdrink you though,” he started “only that I wanted to drink _with_ you. We don’t even have to try and get drunk.”

You smiled slightly but paused “maybe,” you settled on finally “but not right now. Tonight maybe.” Loki nodded with a grin.

-  
It had been a relatively quiet day with you spending most of it painting and Loki working his way through yet another set of books from your shelves but now it was drawing to a close. You felt yourself looking back on all those times the three twins had shoved a bottle in your hand or when the ring of cheering teens had surrounded you and you were ‘offered’ a seat at the drinking table, and finally the time when your were nine. That had ended with blood on the walls and your brother screaming. Needless to say you were feeling fare more sober and uneasy as you set a bottle down in front of Loki and sank into the carpet on the other side of the low table with your own drink “so,” you started “what’s it like being a prince?”

“Are we playing the game again?” Loki asked as he took his own drink from the table.

“Maybe,” you sighed.

Loki hummed and took a drink before he answered “if I’m being honest it was a mixed experience. I loved my adoptive mother the queen and when I was young I loved Thor, but I was never trusted to do all of the things I should have as a prince. A lot of it had to do with who I was now that I know about it but that does not mean it did not still hurt to be treated like I was unworthy to fulfil my role as prince.” 

“I didn’t want to ask…” you started hesitantly, looking down at the bottle in your hands “but why do you go from sounding like you care for your brother to hating him?”

Loki swung the bottle around slightly in his fingers as he spoke thoughtfully “because he is not truly my brother I suppose.” you looked up at that with a confused expression “I did say adoptive mother did I not?” he sighed before continuing.

“I am not truly part of Thor's family, Odin adopted me when I was a baby and raised me as his own. I never knew until the last decade or so… it made sense really. Odin never treated me like his true son anyways. The entire palace never treated me like his true son either. Everyone else liked to act like I was some terrifying and evil character from those stupid adventure books you midgardians love. Thor and his friends thought I was weird for loving books and made of me for it. Frigga was the only one who ever actually loved me in that forsaken place!”

You placed a hand on his arm and he closed his eyes and calmed himself down “but,” he breathed heavily “I am not one to abandon my kingdom or people, that entire thing with trying to take over earth?” he waved a hand dismissively “that wasn’t even really me. But there were so many other things I did to try and get Odin to understand that I Just. Wanted. His. Love.” Loki put a hand over his face before letting out a heavy sigh “and now I’ve laid out myself before you,” he chuckled weakly “I’ve never done that before. You must be special.”

Loki didn’t move as he leaned back against the couch, trying not to drown in his own emotions or the awkward air he had left behind with his story. It wasn’t even the complete one either but it was enough for you to get the gist of who he was he was sure. He wanted to break when your hand pulled away and he felt you get up and walk away. He had messed up by telling you so much, he knew he should have just played his old coy self and given you the bare minimum of what you asked for. He should have played the game.

To say Loki was surprised when you came back into the room and dropped a box full of vodka bottles on the table and an already open and half empty one in your hand was an understatement. You were watching him with a tired and slightly resigned look on your face. You hadn’t decided if you were going to regret this yet as you said “if it’s any help for your conscious, I’m about to probably about to go through an entire crate of vodka with a man I don’t think is a monster.”

Loki stared up at you for a moment, his mask completely gone as he just watched you in wonder and amazement. “Thank you.”

 

The night ran unsurprisingly long, actually running well into the next morning as the two of you talked about lighter topics like games and favorite animals and if Loki had actually given birth to an eight legged horse or not. You two did this all while passing bottles back and forth. When Loki started speaking in Asgardian sometime around nine you just went with it and guessed as to what he was talking about. The drinking time ended with you curled up into his amazingly cold chest on the couch while he rocked back and forth singing some lullaby his mother had taught him, repeating phrases over and over again until he remembered he still had parts left in the song sometimes. To say the two of you were pleasantly drunk was an understatement.  
-

“I hate you for letting me do that.”

“Oh look the snow is here.”

“Don’t you dare divert attention from yourself.”

“It’s quite early for snow isn’t it?”

“LOKI.”

“I wonder if I can make a snowman soon?”

“At least teach me whatever language you were talking in last night so I can understand you when we’re both drunk!”

-

“ _ **Loki,**_ ” you started and held up a cup “ _ **what is?**_ ” you were struggling with the language but a week after you had made Loki begin teaching you Asgardian you were starting to actually get the basics down.

“ _ **A cup.**_ ” Loki wanted to roll his eyes as he turned back to his book. You had been pestering him with questions like that almost every day, though he would admit to himself he had thought it was cute when you called yourself little one in asgardian, not realizing that your name would have stayed the same through translation even though his did.

“ _ **Pancakes?**_ ” Loki whipped his head around to see you holding up the mix and a pan.

“ _OH YES.” Loki said hurring off the couch to help with a grin, already planning on how to try and spike your pancakes with pepper._


	16. Chapter 16

“I’m thinking about getting a dog,” you mumbled to Loki as the two of your drove around town.

Loki turned his attention away from the group of girls on the sidewalk he had been waving to to look back at you “what kind?” he asked “not a golden retriever I hope?”

You snorted in amusement, thinking back to when Loki had told you a little bit about Thor and how the Avengers had compared him to one “no, probably not,” you conceded “though I do want a big dog. Only problem is that I can’t let them run around freely outside because of the snow that’s coming.” snow had begun to come more frequently the further into november you got and you were starting to mark the weeks you would be able to make it back to town before it got to bad.

“They have fur.”

“But if I get a young one?” you countered “perhaps maybe not the best idea.”

Loki nodded “where would you even get a dog from?”

“Probably the shelter,” you told him “see if they have any dogs I can actually live with and if there’s nothing even close to that then I’ll check with the people at the pet shop.”

“Why a shelter?” Loki asked curiously “would not those animals be harder to control or second hand?”

You shrugged “good match for the owner then.” Loki stared at you for a moment in concealed surprise, you had never said anything like that before and he was left a little stunned but you flashed him a small smile “don’t even try and say that I’m not a little hard to deal with.”

“You are actually quite pleasant,” Loki countered. You shot him a slightly confused but flattered smile “so what other kind of animal are you looking for other than ‘big’?” he asked.

You paused for a moment and then smiled “black? Definitely calm.”

Loki chuckled “do you have the supplies to care for a pet?” he asked.

“I’d get everything but the leash after so that I didn’t have to take several trips,” you told loki with a shake of your head “the shelter or shop would provide a leash unless it was a new puppy I was taking out.”

Loki nodded and looked at the clock “shall we go find you a pet then?” he asked and you smiled.

“I’m glad you’re ok with this,” you said softly.

“Why wouldn’t I be, you are my host after all?” Loki raised an eyebrow.

You gave a small shrug “if you weren’t ok with it I would have just waited until later.”

“Why?” Loki asked.

“Because I like you,” you said and hesitated “it’s been nice having you around and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Well you don’t have to worry about that,” Loki purred with a wide smile and pulled one of your hands from the steering wheel to kiss the back of it “but you have done a wonderful job regardless.”

You stared at Loki in shock and a moment too late you realized the red light  
-  
“Miss?” the young cop asked hesitantly, glancing at Loki who was dying of laughter next to you “miss?”

“ _I am so sorry_ ,” you whispered, face burning up in embarrassment as you pressed your forehead to the top of the steering wheel.

“I-it’s ok Miss, you clearly didn’t mean to,” the cop said hesitantly and you wanted to curl up and die right there “just don’t do it again alright?”

“ok.”

-

When you walked into the shelter with Loki the man at the desk paused in surprise “[y/n]?” he asked “did you find another stray?”

“Ah, no,” you said a little sheepishly “I’m actually here to do the opposite today.”

The mans face lit up “you’re here to adopt?” he asked excitedly and as you gave a hesitant maybe he jumped out of his chair and opened a door into the shelter area “come on then!”

Loki watched in interest as you stopped at each cubbie or cage with an animal in it to try talking to them and asking the attendant about them. He had to bite back a laugh as you stared down a duck.

“Why?” you asked helplessly and the shelter worker chuckled.

“No idea [y/n].”

Loki got distracted a few minutes later by an all black cat watching him from across the room, green eyes blinking slowly as their tail swept back and forth. Loki noted that this one wasn’t in a cage of any form and once he reached it he slowly ran a hand down its back, mouth quirking into a smile as it pressed its head into his hand for more petting. He didn’t notice you and the worker watching him in amusement or the worker leaning over to your ear.

“Your friend seems to like him, that’s one of ours but he keeps getting out of his box so we just stopped trying to put him in one.” he explained and you smiled “doesn’t have a name either so he could be all yours?”

You hesitated before shaking your head “I at least want to try finding a dog first,” you whispered back “that is what I came for.”

He smiled “do you trust me?”

You hesitated again “as much as I trust anyone else in this town.”

He shrugged “fair,” then he pulled you to your feet from in front of the cage you were and near to the back “we got this one in close to four weeks ago, no idea what she is but Lidia is betting of a husky german mix with a bit of black lab somewhere in there. I’m personally betting on a standard black husky.”

You smiled slightly as your crouched in front of the cage and watched the young dog move to face you, their thin black coat shimmering slightly in the light. “Can I pet her?” you asked hesitantly and he opened it for you “thanks,” you mumbled and held out a hand to the dog.

A moment later you were smiling and rubbing the dog down as they practically melted under your touch “hello there,” you purred and pulled your hand away for a moment and broke out laughing as the young dog reached up and licked your face “I like her,” you told the worker with a grin and he looked like he was about to explode in excitement.

“Great, your friend want the cat?” he asked softly and you paused for a moment before looking down at your soon to be dog.

“Hold on for a sec,” you told him and scooped the dog into your arms and approached the cat. Loki looked a little surprised as you set the dog next to the cat but smiled in amusement as the two animals stared at each other for a moment before the dog darted forward and licked the cats face to get a paw placed on their nose. A minute later they were both sitting together watching the two of you.

You looked back to the man with a smile, his was twice as big as yours “I’ll go grab the papers,” he told you and hurried off.

“Why is he getting papers?” Loki asked.

“I have to sign some forms to adopt them,” you told him “I can’t just walk out of here with them.”

“You could,” Loki countered calmly and you swatted him gently on the arm.

“What should we name them?”

“What do you want to name them?”

“No idea.”

The man came back with the papers and you let Loki think of possible names while you filled them out and the worker went to get leashes and collars for both of them. When you were done you carried the dog and had Loki hold the cat that moved to drape itself around his shoulders almost immediately. You broke out laughing as the dog tried to do the exact same thing with you a minute later.

“How about Knight for the dog?” Loki suggested as you got in the car.

“Because of her fur color?” you asked with a raised eyebrow.

“With a K little one,” Loki sighed.

You thought about it “I like it,” you relented with a small shrug “what about the tomcat?”

“Magic?” Loki asked teasingly and you snorted.

“Does he feel like it?” you asked and Loki paused.

“Not currently…”

“Don’t you dare,” you told him as you stopped in front of the petstore.

The next thirty minutes were spent wandering around the store picking out the appropriate gear for the two pets as well as enough food to last through the winter and then some. You sighed when you had finally packed everything up and ran a hand down your face “this is a lot of stuff. I’m actually going to be careful while driving this time.” you laughed when you saw Loki look relieved “still not used to my driving?” you teased.

“You drive like a maniac!” he protested and you just laughed harder before climbing into the car and draping a blanket over the pets to make sure they stayed warm during the drive.

“I may drive like a mad woman but at least I have fun.” you grinned as his moc horrified expression as he climbed in behind you.

“So what’s left on the shopping list?” Loki asked as he buckled himself in. you pulled out the paper and groaned softly “what little one?”

You handed it to him “we gotta swing my the doctors, he called late last night and basically cornered me into agreeing to get meds from him.”

Loki's brow creased in mild concern “why would you need medication? You’re not injured are you?”

You shook your head as you drove the two of you to the doctor's office “no, I’m not injured, but he worries.”

Loki snorted “he shouldn’t with how much he worried for your brother.” you noticed you tighten your grip on the steering wheel “sorry.”

“Don’t be,” you sighed “I hate his guts for letting my brother die and dragging his name through the mud but he worried about me for some reason regardless and I’m to scared of him to stop him.”

“You’ve gotten a lot more forward,” Loki noted, almost sounding impressed.

You let out a stressed laugh “just wait till we get there Loki, I’ll go right back to being a terrified mess.” that didn’t stop his carefully masked feeling of concern for you however.

When you did arrive at the office Loki stayed with the pets in the car while you jogged in. a few minutes later the door to the offices opened again and instead of seeing you when he looked up he saw the doctor. Loki brushed his hand against the dagger you had hidden under the shotgun seat as he leaned forwards to talk to the man with a smile.

“Do you need something?” Loki asked pleasantly.

“Why are you still here?” right to the point then. Loki made his smile stay.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” the doctor hissed lowly “that you are almost certainly healed by now and are overstaying your welcome.”

“Is this a message from miss [y/n]?” Loki asked slowly and watched as the man lowered his eyebrows in frustration.

The doctor let out a low growl “perhaps you should start seeing about travel plans back to wherever you came from kid.”

Loki gave him a bright smile “I’ll look into it.”

“See that you do,” the Doctor hissed and made his way back to the building. Loki had to fight the legitimate urge to throw a knife into his back and kill him but as you slipped out of the doors and quickly climbed back into the car he became more concerned with making sure he didn’t die when you started driving.

“I hate this place.” you muttered as you pulled out. Loki watched as a smile broke out across your face as Knight crawled from the back of the car into your lap where she rested her head on your knee so she was out of the way. Magic burrowed further under the blanket but Loki didn't really care as he watched you absentmindedly pet your new dog as you drove.

And he smiled.


	17. Chapter 17

Loki watched from the couch with you half asleep next to him with your head resting on his arm, as the two pets explored the new place. Magic had already moved out of the living room and he could hear the cat moving around in the bedroom but Knight on the other hands was looking over every single aspect of the living room and kitchen and running all over the place.

“I thought you wanted a calm dog,” Loki chuckled.

“I’ll deal with it,” you mumbled “Knight’s adorable, aren’t you girl?” you held your hands open and the next think Loki knew Knight was in your arms as a fluffy ball and licking your face. Loki smiled as he listen to you giggle and curl around the dog. Magic crept along the back of the coach to settle onto his shoulder before beginning to purr. Loki decided he could get used to a life of this, quiet evenings curled up next to you, mornings filled with homemade filled foods, afternoons helping you with various small tasks. He liked this.

-

You watched Loki in amusement as he played fetch with Knight and talked to her in almost solely Asgardian. Magic was curled up on your shoulders and batting at your loose hair as you paused in painting the flowers in your garden. You laughed when Knight brought back a stick that was very clearly not the one Loki had thrown.

“ _ **What do you think this is?**_ ” you heard Loki ask her “ _ **does this look like the stick I threw? No. Go find the stick I threw Knight.**_ ” you chuckled as Loki gave a put upon sigh and burst out laughing when Knight came back with a lizard “ _ **NO! That’s not even a stick! Little one your dog is broken!**_ ”

“ _ **She’s not broken, you just aren’t playing along,**_ ” you laughed and got a stick thrown at you “ _ **LOKI NO I HAVE PAINT OUT!**_ ” 

-  
Loki watched you anxiously as you put down the phone, not that he would ever say so, and waited for you to talk to him. You put your head in your hands with a low groan “ _ **I hate**_ art museums.” 

“ _ **Why?**_ ” Loki asked trying to seem like he was only paying half attention. 

“ _ **Because they… dang it, what’s the word? They like to get to excited over things and not a happy excitement.**_ ” you rubbed your hand across your face as you stood up “ _ **Will you be ok for a few days alone?**_ ” 

“ ** _Why wouldn’t I be?_** ” Loki asked “"strong> _but why can’t I come?”_

**_“Because I can’t take those two with me,_** ” you said gesturing to the two pets “ ** _it should only be three days max._ ”**

**“ _I can handle them,_** ” Loki promised “ ** _do you need help packing?_ ”**

**“I’ve got it,” you sighed “unless you can help me pick out a professional looking outfit to wear into the museum so they don’t think I’m a complete heathen?”**

Loki grinned “ ** _I’ve got you little one, don’t worry._** ” 

“ ** _Thank you Loki. by the way, do you want me to see if I can get you any real transportation out of here while I’m in the city?_** ” you were more hesitant to ask this and Loki stopped as if he hadn’t even thought about it. You grew a little worried as Loki took a moment to think. 

“ ** _Do you want me gone?_** ” Loki asked hesitantly and you saw the faintest glimmer of fear and hurt in his eyes. 

“ ** _No! Well I mean not unless you want to leave, I don’t want to keep you here and I really like having you around but the snow’ll be getting higher soon and we might not make it into town and you’ll be trapped up here with me…_** ” you trailed off nervously and a slow smile crossed Loki’s face. 

“ ** _Is that in invitation to stay the winter?_** ” he asked hopefully. You nodded, shoving your hands in your pockets because you had no idea what to do with them at this point “ ** _I’d love to stay little one._** ” his smile was warm enough that a flush rose to your face and you hurried towards the closet to grab a duffel bag. 

“ ** _Ok, I’m gonna pack now!_** ” you squeaked and dug through the closet for the bag. When you turned around Loki was holding out a stack of neatly folded clothing. “Thank you.” Loki then proceeded to grab whatever you asked him to get and hardly raised an eyebrow when you pulled the handgun from under the sink to stick in the jeep or the short sword that got strapped next to you on the side of the seat. 

“ ** _Thank you for this,_** ” you repeated as Loki handed you your thick coat and scarf. 

“ ** _It’s no problem,_** ” Loki purred as he took the scarf back and redid it around you to keep you warmer “ ** _come back safe Little one._** ” 

“ ** _I will,_** ” you promised and hopped into the jeep “ ** _don’t let Magic knock any of the nice glass cups off the table,_** ” you warned as you pulled out. 

“ ** _I’ve got it handled! ** _” he called as you turned onto the now slightly snowy road._**_**

**_**__** _ **

**_**__** ___ **

**Once you were out of sight Loki turned to the two pets waiting just inside the house and smiled “ _ **now who’s ready to be useful?**_ ” Knight tilted her head and Magic was gone in an instant as Loki laughed.**

**____ **

**-**

**____ **

**“So the water damage here is going to slightly distort the coloring and possibly injure the painting-”**

**____ **

“You could have just said that over the phone call,” you hissed through your teeth, hands over your face “I had to drive a FULL DAY to get here because you said it was urgent.” 

**____ **

“It is urgent!” the curator whined “and because you are one of our few still living artist we can make sure that everything is cared for and repaired properly!” 

**____ **

“I could have given you the paint brand over the phone! Now is there something actually important here or can I go get a burger and go home!?” 

**____ **

The curator looked a little disgruntled for being yelled at and shuffled his feet before answering “yes,” he muttered “we have some people here to talk about buying half of your gallery and a commission.” 

**____ **

over two hundred miles away Loki was standing in the yard in shorts and a T-shirt as he flipped a light stick in his hands and chucked it across the yard a moment later “ _ **GET**_ ” he ordered and Knight took off at a dead run, leaping up and snatching the stick cleanly out of the air before hit the ground “ _ **Good girl,**_ ” Loki praised as he pet her head. The thick jacket he summoned a moment later as well as a padded helmet and neck guard just in case had Knight darting across the yard. 

**____ **

“ _ **Good girl,**_ ” Loki praised again softly and then barked out the next command “ _ **HOLD.**_ ” Knight darted forwards and latched onto his arm. Despite still being young she was plenty big enough to be cumbersome and if he hadn’t been wearing protective gear it would have not been a pleasant experience “ _ **PAUSE.**_ ” Knight dropped from his arm but grabbed the sleeve of the thick coat “ _ **TAKE HOME.**_ ” Loki resisted as Knight began trying to pull him towards the house and smiled. It was a command he had taught Knight specifically so that she could stop you from doing anything stupid “ _ **DROP.**_ ” Knight let go but stayed at the ready “ _ **ATTACK.**_ ” Loki actually stumbled back slightly as Knight threw herself at him. When he was satisfied with her efforts as she was actually beginning to tear through the jacket he called her off and disappeared the gear before rubbing her down “ _ **Good girl!**_ ” he cheered as she licked his face “ _ **very good, now you can go and play.**_ ” he patted her head before watching the dog dart off into the woods with a grin. 

**____ **

\- 

**____ **

The night you got home you spent a few hours slowly ranting at Loki in Asgardian about stupid museum people and some rich idiots who thought they could get away with asking you to paint naked people. They had still bought half of the gallery even when you told them you wouldn’t paint for them but the second you were out of the doors someone had cornered you and badgered you about the avengers, apparently there was a convention going on in town and your green scarf that Loki had put small images of his golden horns on was enough to set the fan off on a three hour tangent. 

**____ **

Loki thought the entire thing was hilarious until you brought up the whole thing of him working with the avengers “ ** _Loki… are… are you allowed to be here?_** ” you asked hesitantly. 

**____ **

“ ** _Why wouldn’t I be?_** ” 

**____ **

You played with the mug of cocoa in your hands for a moment before slowly starting “ ** _It’s just… you did say you were a reforming villain and you said you were working with the Avengers and… Loki they have no idea where you are do they?_** ” you looked up at him, your face a mess of worry and fear. 

**____ ** ____

**Loki was silent for a while before he set down his own cup, moving to rest his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands “ ** _No,_** ” he spoke softly “ ** _no they don’t [y/n]._** ” your put your head in your hands and hissed something about being an idiot and something inside Loki broke a little.  
“ ** _[y/n], if you wish it I will go right back to that tower and hand myself back over._** ”**

__

You looked up at Loki in shock, tears still in your eyes as you recognized the tears in his own. You took few deep breaths and closed your eyes as you pulled yourself back together. “ ** _Tell me what happened first at least,_** ” you ordered in a small voice.

__

And Loki told you. Not once in his story did you ever feel that he was lying to you or that you were unsafe. He told you of the events leading up to his attempted conquering of earth and the battle in New York, he told you of the short trail on Asgard that forced him to stay on Midgard until he had ‘repented’ and ‘reformed’ himself for the better of all, he told you of the first few weeks back on earth where(despite his brothers protests) he was kept muzzled and in a cell on the helicarrier while they debated on how to deal with him. He told you of the months he spent almost alone in the tower, hardly interacting with the Avengers outside of missions or when they were antagonizing each other, he told you how little they all trusted him save Thor, and he told you of how they had finally started getting a working dynamic down and he was starting to actually work with the avengers. That time of progress lasted for about a month and a half before some magician and his partner appeared and started messing things up. 

__

The team saw to many similarities. They would leave him behind, make him do things that would keep him away from the fight, use him almost solely for information, worried that he would go join the magician and fight against them. It wasn’t until Thor was badly injured that they let him back into the actual fight and Loki had done his best to show them he could be trusted. But one mistake, that was all it took. He had missed ONE PERSON and they blamed it on him and he was shut away again. Thor had managed to let them bring him with them on the last fight Loki had been a part of. Still the same magician. The same person Loki could have just taken out from the very beginning if they had just trusted him. It had been their partner that had gotten Loki with the golden knife and then a few minutes later his magic was going haywire and the Magician had gotten him thrown out of a window. 

__

Loki let out a low chuckle as he ran a hand over his face “ ** _to think Thor cared so much about me… I wonder if he thinks I’m dead._** ” 

__

Loki gave a few minutes to process all of the information. He hid his breaking heart as you got up and went to the kitchen and picked up your phone. “This is [y/n] [y/ln], I’d like a cheese pizza delivered to my house… yes I’ll pay double for the long drive… Thank you.” Loki was taken a little off guard as he watched you move around the kitchen as if nothing was wrong. A few minutes later you held a washcloth out to him “ ** _you gonna help me wash the dishes tonight?_** ” 

__

Loki took the washcloth and got up to silently help. His silence lasted until the after the driver arrived and you handed him the boxes before paying the driver. Once the pizza was gone he finally mustered up enough nerve to speak. 

__

“Why not call the avengers in on me?" 

__

“Does it look like I have their number?” you asked in a clipped and ran your hands down your face “Loki…” you sighed and sat down next to him “look, I’m-I really have no idea how to respond to all of this. Do I turn you in, kick you out, hide you? I have no idea what any of that would end up with so I’m just… how about this-” you pulled your phone from you pocket and handed it to him “you call your brother for me, it doesn’t have to be anything concrete or some sentimental message. Just… just tell him you’re safe and we’ll deal with the rest later ok?” 

__

“You have certainly been getting more forward,” Loki said softly at an attempt at a joke and carefully took the phone “you’re not upset with me?” 

__

You let out a watery laugh “no, I am totally upset with you but I’m upset with myself too for not realizing who and what you were sooner. But despite the fact that I now know you’d be perfectly fine in this weather, I’m not going to kick you out just because the topic never really came up. I was never lying when I said I liked having you around and if I’m being honest I don’t think you deserve being treated like a tool. No one should be treated like that.” Loki nodded and after a moment dialed the number. 

__

It run a few times before someone picked up and a tired voice asked “hello?” 

__

__

“Loki!? Loki where are you are you alright!? Where have you been!” Thor sounded close to tears of relief and you watched the edge of Loki's’ mouth quirk upwards. 

__

“I’m alright Thor, I’ve been…” he trailed off and looked towards you. You kept your gaze firmly on your own hands where you were turning the key over in your hands “I’ve been well looked after. I apologize for disappearing so suddenly during the fight. It had not been my intention.” 

__

“Well where are you now!?” Thor demanded. 

__

Loki paused for a moment “I’d.. I’d rather not say yet brother.” 

__

“Loki-” Loki cut him off before he could get any further. 

__

“Please Thor, let me sort some things out first. I can promise you I am in no physical danger.” 

__

You suddenly let out a bout of weak laughter as tears fell from your face “ _ **you should tell him how you out drank most of the town.**_ ” 

__

“Loki?” Thor asked questioningly as Loki stared at you in worry “who was that?” 

__

“ ** _Little one are you alright?_** ” Loki asked gently, ignoring his brother. 

__

“ _ **I’m going to go to sleep so you can talk to him alone,**_ ” you told Loki and got up. He caught your wrist before you could get to far. 

__

“ _ **Little one please,**_ ” Loki pleaded “ _ **I am so sorry for not telling you sooner. Please.**_ ” 

__

You didn’t resist as Loki gently pulled you into his arms and held you tightly, eventually turning your phone off so he could properly ignore Thor and concentrate on apologizing to you. Knight appeared at your side and let out a low whine as she licked your hand. You held your arms out and she snuggled in between Loki and you. 

__

It was close to midnight when you pulled away and grabbed a small blue leather bound book off of one of your shelves and opened it with the oldest looking key on your keyring before slapping the book into Loki’s chest and curling back up into his side. Loki waited a few minutes before opening the book and then almost slapping it shut again. “ _ **Little one?**_ ” 

__

“Mmm.” 

__

“ _ **Was this your brothers?**_ ” 

__

“M.” 

__

" _ **These are real spells little one.**_ ” 

__

“Hmph.” 

__

Loki breathed a small curse in amazement as he opened the book back up and glanced over the pages. “ _ **You said he wasn’t a witch.**_ ” 

__

“ _ **He wasn’t. That’s all science,**_ ” you told him, voice muffled as you tried to speak through his shirt. 

__

Loki hesitated for just a moment before pushing on the topic “ _ **Little one, I am sorry to tell you this but these are spells. There is nothing else they could be! Whatever your brother may have said-**_ ” 

__

You cut him off as you pushed away and grabbed the book from his hands. You flipped to a page you knew by heart and walked towards the fireplace. Looking him dead in the eye the entire time as you grabbed a handful of ash and walked to the sink before dropping it and tracing an intricate pattern into it before saying “ _ **Please keep in mind that I am in no way magical at all.**_ ” then you snapped and the ash lit on fire. “ _ **This is some screwed up science and I will stand by that till the day someone kills me.**_ ” 

__

Loki stared at you but decided not to press any further “why give me this?” he asked as you tossed it back to him. 

__

“ _ **this way if you do go back you can actually protect yourself and get free if needed.**_ ” Loki stared at you again until you left the room and then he turned back to the book to figure out how this was supposedly not magic. He was so engrossed in his task that he never noticed you come back in several hours later and curl up into his side with a blanket draped around your shoulders and eventually doze off. 

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY FOR MORE SADNESS


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one is short... sorry?

Loki wasn’t quite sure how this had happened but he certainly wasn’t going to complain. You had gone from kind, caring, and friendly, to worried and betrayed, to apparently trusting him enough to walk up and fall asleep on his legs, all within a week. Loki didn’t want to move incase it woke you up,witch was very likely considering you were using his legs as a pillow, but his legs were starting to hurt and he had to use the restroom. In a moment of pure genius he began to carefully pull you up off of his legs, quickly creating a double of himself underneath you as he got up with a self satisfied smirk.

Magic was amazing and he had not been using it enough.

_**“Good afternoon Knight,”**_ Loki hummed as he slipped back out of the bathroom once he had finished his business. After a few solid days of working with her Loki had realized just how much your current pet was not indeed a standard dog. The shelter had somehow ended up with a black wolf pup and never realized it-not that Loki was objecting. Wolves were great and now Knight would be able to protect you even better. Magic came out of nowhere as Loki stepped into the kitchen and draped himself over Loki’s shoulders. _**“Good afternoon Magic,”**_ Loki chuckled softly and pulled the things for sandwiches from the cupboard. He could just conjure lunch but actually making it gave him something to do and you always seemed pleased when he would cook with you.

Loki glanced at the large clock above the fireplace as he finished setting the sandwiches on a table and headed over towards the couch to wake you. He stopped himself as he reached you and watched the slow rise and fall of your chest as you slept. Loki crouched down in front of you as a small smile crossed his face and he brushed a strand of hair out of your face. He briefly wondered if this was what it was like to have a family and stopped dead, hand still barely resting on your face. Bile rose in his throat but Loki couldn’t move. You were a pathetic mortal who would be gone in a handful of decades, you meant nothing to him. He had just simply been repaying your kindness as was his duty as a gentleman.

Then why did he ask to stay and why was he so happy when you said yes? Why did he want to stay? Why did he tell you everything? Why was he ok with you curling up into his side when you both read together in the living room or happy when he woke up to find you poking his face with some new activity for the day? Why did he want to see you smiling every second of the day because any other expression other than joy should not belong on a face like yours. Loki slowly pulled his hand away, realizing for the first time that he was shaking . Loki silently but swiftly stood up and back peddled into the kitchen where he braced himself against the counter.

He had completely forgotten about the cat until Magic placed a paw on the side of his face and let out a low rumbling purr. Knight came and sat at his feet and tilted her head to the side. Loki watched the two pets for a moment before looking back over to your peaceful sleeping form. The most predominant thought in his mind;

_Shit._

_I love a mortal._

-

Loki was acting a little weird but that was also completely understandable. He had basically laid his complete life story out to you know and admitted to more or less being a high level fugitive. You still weren’t quite sure how to feel about the whole fugitive thing since that had finally settled in, but at the same time you really didn’t want him going back to S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers. Then somewhere in the middle of him telling you about his relation to the avengers, and falling asleep on his legs in the living room(which was super embarrassing when you woke up)- everything seemed to fall into place. It felt right to have him around and despite everything you couldn’t bring yourself to not trust him. Not trusting him just didn’t feel right.

That didn’t mean things weren’t a little strange though. Loki seemed suddenly ever so slightly hesitant to touch you, like he was trying to act the same and only now realizing how much the two of you came in contact. You were starting to notice that too. It was a shocking realization for all of three seconds and then you just fell into a bemused and apathetic opinion on the subject. It was nice having someone to come into physical contact with in the first place, the fact that it was him was even better. But he was still ever so hesitant to touch you, to try and act normal.

So in an act of frustrated defiance one night when you were running on a total of four hours of sleep for the past three days, you shuffled over to him-thick comforter wrapped loosely around your shoulders- and fell on top of him while he was reading on the couch. The small cry of surprise he gave made you laugh and you curled up half on him half not, head on his chest and in danger of falling off the edge of the couch. After a few minutes Loki’s arm wrapped around you to make sure you didn’t slide off the couch and a few minutes after that he shifted ever so slightly so that he was more comfortable. This began the trend of the two of you curling up on the couch with one or two of you reading. The combination was more often both of you reading or Loki sleeping. Things were going great and he was finally starting to relax slowly, in fact there was one time he was half asleep and had curled up into your side, despite being over a full foot taller than you he managed it. Then you nightmares had to get worse.

The screaming wasn’t the first things you heard in the dream, it never was. The first thing was Doc smiling down at you with a supposedly comforting smile saying “see you soon little [y/n], things are going to get interesting soon!” as a child you had missed the suspicious glance your brother had shot at the other man but there was no way you missed it this time. When he was tucking you in that night your throat was burning with unshed tears as you tried to warn him, tried to do something, anything. But you couldn’t. It was just a dream and you knew what was coming. The shatter of glass and sound of a struggle as Tori was dragged from his bedroom by a group of men, all doing their best to keep it quiet despite the intensity of the situation, trying not to wake you. How wrongly merciful of them that was.

You had never seen the full beating they delivered onto your brother or what happened before they tied him to the pyre but your dreams supplied the same strain of events every time. You were unable to do anything as you watched him try to fight back, using his powers where he could, briefly igniting a fire glyph on the lawn and injuring a few of the men. But there was over thirty people here and they were armed. He wasn’t armed, he couldn’t keep up with the flurry of blows, and he certainly didn’t have the time needed to create one of the intricate symbols needed to actually come close to winning this fight.

You finally managed to scream loud enough that it felt like you were doing something when you saw his face when a younger you emerged from the house, sleepy features contorted with fear and confusion. You tore into the fire as he went ablaze, tears running down your face as you screamed his name over and over again, trying desperately to save him. Just as your fingers were about to touch him you fell. You fell into the darkness until you hit something impossibly solid and when you looked up it was into the cold eyes of the doctor.

He let out a soft repetitive tutting noise. “Oh [y/n],” he sighed “we had such high hopes for you.” there was a sadness in his eyes as flames danced around the space, closing in, filling your lungs with smoke that choked your screams as the heat danced along your skin.

You nailed Loki in the nose with a vicious right hook and all it did was snap his face to the side. You should have apologized. You would have apologized. The tears running down your face and sobs choking your breath as panic clawed its way into your heart and pulled, tearing it to shreds. For once you stiffened when Loki touched you. You hadn’t done that since the time he had pinned you to the counter. He waited a few minutes as you curled into the ball, crying your heart out and trying to force yourself to breathe at the same time as the world went from painfully sharp clarity to absolute nothingness over and over again. Then he slowly pulled you into his arms with you head resting against his chest, carding a hand through your hair as he began to murmur comforting words in asgardian that your brain was too scrambled to understand at the moment. Even if he had been speaking in English you probably wouldn’t have gotten it.

You stayed like that for who knows how long, but to the two of you felt like eternity, before you eventually cried yourself out and the exhaustion of just living at the moment caught up with you and forced you back under. Not once did Loki let go during the entire night, refusing to let you get even an inch further from him than you already were. He stayed up all night with you in his arms, making sure whatever had woken you in such a state didn’t happen again. You had both fallen asleep on the couch earlier than night and he would rather die than let you wake up alone in the morning.

When you did wake up you spent close to an hour crying again and at some gentle prodding from Loki shared the reason. Loki never left contact with you that entire day and if he did somehow he was no more than five feet from you. When making breakfast his arms were draped over your shoulders while he flipped the pancakes, letting you pour and monitor them. When eating he sat next to you at the table, shoulders or knees brushing against yours as the two of you ate, when doing work around the house he either had your hand in his own or he was leaning on you in some fashion, and when night came around and you careful mask of apathy cracked and you started to break down again(something you hadn’t truly done in a long while), he swept you into a hug, cast a sleeping spell, and then curled up around you on his bed. He stayed up all that night as well, watching your face as you slept and running a hand through your hair.

Little did he know that this would be the most peaceful and restful sleep you had had in over ten years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just saw the greatest show man and WHOOO it was great! the cinematography and music was amazing!
> 
> any-who, thoughts on the way the plot is limping?


	19. Chapter 19

“ _ **Loki?**_ ”

Loki didn’t bother to look up from the book he was reading since you were curled up around and on top of him anyways “ _ **yes?**_ ”

You hesitated for a moment “ _ **do you know how to use a sword?**_ ” Now Loki did look up, placing a finger in the book to save his spot as he shot you a suspicious look.

“ _ **I am a prince of Asgard.**_ ”

“ _ **That’s not an answer.**_ ”

“ _ **I grew up with Thor,**_ ” Loki breathed in exasperation.

“ _ **Still not an answer.**_ ”

“ _ **yes, little one, I know how to use a sword.**_ ”

You drummed your fingers nervously around the edges of your book as you hesitated in asking yet again “ _ **do you….**_ ” you trailed off but started again, talking quickly to get it over with “ _ **can you teach me how to actually use one?**_ ”

Loki raised an eyebrow and shifted slightly to prop himself up on one arm and properly look at you “ _ **and why are you asking me this?**_ ”

You flushed slightly and stared intently at your book so that you weren’t looking directly at him “ _ **because you know what your doing,**_ ” you mumble “ _ **and I like using swords and I don’t want to look like an idiot with one.**_ ”

Loki snorted softly and turned back to his book and you felt your heart sink “ _ **you’ll always look like a fool with a sword next to myself,**_ ” he told you “ _ **Asgardians lives are much longer than humans so we can master our weaponry far better than you mortals. I spent as much time with a sword as several of your worlds master swordsman's lives put together.**_ ” there was a scoff and but his voice softened slightly “ _ **but then again, why not? I suppose I could spend my afternoons watching you suffer through sword drills every day.**_ ”

You instantly brightened “ _ **Really?**_ ”

Loki shot you a look “ _ **you are far too excited by that last comment,**_ ” he stated dryly but you were already off of him and grabbing a pair of matching swords from your wall. When you began pulling of your heavy sweater he called out to you “ _ **not that I’m complaining little one but are you sure you want to step out into the snow in a pair of beat up sweatpants and a t-shirt?**_ ”

“ _ **I’ll be fine,**_ ” you told him brightly and pulled him up off the couch and towards the door. Loki let out a long suffering sigh and managed to make sure you were wearing proper boots before he started, first drilling you on your stance and movements before anything else. You didn’t complain and put all your effort into remembering his notes and adapting to the changes.

Both you of Loki completely lost track of time, finally breaking out of training when Knight came trotting up with a large stick in her mouth and barking happily before charging in between Loki’s legs and bashing it into his shins. As Loki cussed the ‘dog’ out in asgardian you laughed. You were a little surprised when the sword dropped from your hands and when you went to pick it up both you and Loki realized you were shaking.

Loki breathed an asgardian curse and swept you up into his arms, quickly jogging into the house before you could protest and using magic to light the fire and summon several thick blankets to wrap you up in despite your various small protests.

“ _ **I should have stopped us sooner,**_ ” Loki muttered under his breath angrily as he moved around the kitchen grabbing you favorite but also largest mug and magically filling it with hot chocolate before shoving it into your hands and summoning a pair of warm thick socks “ _ **put these on,**_ ” he ordered “ _ **they’ll help heat you up faster.**_ ” when you set down the cocoa to pull on the socks you grew irritated “ _ **no, you have to drink that too!**_ ”

You broke out laughing as Loki seemed to fuss over you “ _ **I can’t drink and pull on the socks at the same time,**_ ” you informed him with a wide but tired smile.

“ _ **Then give me your feet and I’ll put them on you,**_ ” Loki huffed and you stuck your feet out from under the blankets for him. The new socks he carefully put on your feet were of course green but also surprisingly fluffy and warm. You hummed your thanks to Loki and held up and arm to open the blankets to him. He just stared to you for a moment “ _ **what are you doing?**_ ”

“ _ **I know you said you were a frost giant and all but you’ve gotta be at least a little bit cold right?**_ ” you asked and began to scoot over to him.

Loki sighed “ _ **Look, I’m naturally cold-I will not be able to help you heat up in anyHEY!**_ ” Loki cried out as you lunged and flopped onto his side with laugh.

“ _ **I will be the judge of that,**_ ” you told him with a grin and gave a victory cry in your head as he sighed and rearranged the blankets so that they were properly tucked around the two of you. About twenty minutes later you broached a new problem.

“ _ **So what’re we gonna do for dinner?**_ ”

-

“Did you have any luck tracing that call back?” Fury asked Tony who shook his head.

“That ass somehow used his magic to scramble the call,” Tony informed him as he popped a blueberry into his mouth “we’d have to get pointbreak to call him back or we’d have to call him from another phone.”

“And why haven’t you done that yet?” Fury asked.

“Cause he won’t give us the number,” Tony grumbled, shooting a glare at the blond in question who was pointedly not saying anything “Something about ‘waiting for him to call me back’ or something stupid like that.”

“And has he?” Fury asked.

“Called back? No. were you expecting him too?” Tony asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You did report that it seemed like he had another person there with him, have they called or do you have any information on them at all?”

Tony shot another pointed look at Thor “well we could figure out if it was a normal phone or a burner if he would just give us the number.”

“Thor.” the blonde said nothing and Fury turned to face him “Thor I understand that you’re hoping your brother will come to his senses but you should know by now that’s not going to happen. We need to find him before he does anything to get the rest of you thrown in jail.”

“He called his companion little one,” Thor said softly “generally a title reserved for children. My brother sounded close to tears when he spoke to them. I’m going to wait and see what happens with him next. If he makes any foolish decisions I will take personal responsibility for his actions.”

“That’s not enough anymore Thor,” Fury told him not unkindly.

“I will not call him.” Thor repeated.

“Then let me.”

“I do not think my brother will take kindly to hearing your voice director,” Thor told him.

Fury shook his head “if I’m lucky it won’t be him picking up the phone.” Thor didn’t move “If we don’t trace the call,” Fury compromised “will you let me talk to them?”

“No one here will track the call?” Thor repeated and Tony gave a resigned sigh when Fury shot him a pointed look.

“No one will trace the call while it happens,” Fury promised and held out a hand.

Thor watched him for a moment before pulling out his phone and handing it to the director “it is the most recent call.”

“Thank you Thor,” Fury said and went to the history and called back.  
-  
You pulled out your phone with a groan of annoyance, you had just begun to drift off curled up into Loki in front of the fire. Your companion was already fast asleep as you hit answer and held the device to your ear.

“‘Ello?” you asked, still half ready to drop off any time now.

“This is director Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” a strong male voice began and you were instantly awake “I was hoping to talk with you.”

Both ends of the conversation fell silent as you figured out what to say in response, eventually settling on a soft “ok.”

“Would you mind if I just talked for a few minutes and explained things?”Fury took your silence as a yes and continued “we understand that you may or may not have come in contact with one of our people, Loki Laufeyson, to be specific. While he may not appear to be so he is a cold blooded killer and could turn on you in an instant for something less than the temperature of the room being three degrees off. We have been attempting to locate him for months now in order to make sure that there is not a repeat of New York. you know who Loki is correct?”

You gave a soft yes.

“Then you know how dangerous he is?”

Another soft yes.

“Is he there with you now?”

You fell silent.

Fury waited a few minutes before continuing “Loki are you there?”

You stayed silent again, blood pounding in your ears.

“How old are you?”

“Is Thor there?” there was a beat of silence on the other end.

“Would you like to speak to him?” you fell silent again and there was the muffled sounds of voices over the phone before Thors voice spoke.

“Hello.”

“ _ **How badly do you miss your brother?**_ ”

“ _ **More than you could imagine,**_ ” thor sighed softly(he himself was thinking of the young man who had grinned and plaid mostly harmless pranks on the other inhabitants of the castle and beamed at Thor as if he were his sun) and changed the topic “ _ **you speak asgardian?**_ ”

You hesitated “ _ **yes, and I think I can relate to your pain… what… how far would you go to have him back?**_ ”

“ _ **To the end of the universe and back if it would truly return my brother to me,**_ ” Thor told you honestly and without hesitation “ _ **but if you would like a truly honest answer, I had lost faith in my brother and only my last few weeks with him had begun to rebuild that trust.**_ ”

You fell silent over the phone for a few moments “ _ **do you want to talk to him?**_ ”

“ _ **Please,**_ ” was the breathless and hopeful answer.

You sat and and gently shook Loki’s shoulder, holding the phone out to him when he cracked an eye open with a soft groan of annoyance “ _ **It’s your brother,**_ ” you murmured and the phone was gone from your hand a second later.

“ _ **What do you want you Oaf?**_ ” he snarled softly, there was a slight edge of fear to his voice. You didn’t hear Thor's response but Loki’s face darkened “ _ **No. You and your pathetic cohorts can do well enough without me and I am under no obligation to come back to you.**_ ” there was another pause and Loki let out a low chuckle “ _ **your father said I had to serve midgard to make up for my deeds. He did not specify how I must do that or in what timeframe so I think I shall take my own sweet time and use my own methods thank you very much.**_ ”

You leaned over a held a hand out for the phone hesitantly. Loki paused for a moment before muttering something into the phone and handing it over “ _ **Prince Thor?**_ ”

“ _ **Yes little one?**_ ”

“ _ **Your brother has nice abs.**_ ” Loki almost choked on air as you ended the call and you sent him a sly smile “ _ **What, you walk around without a shirt on half the time, was I not supposed to notice?**_ ” Loki grinned and slid closer to you.

“ _ **Well if my abs are so nice do I get to see yours?**_ ” he asked playfully and you smacked him lightly.

“ _ **Heck no, it’s your choice to walk around without a shirt on. I like being covered, thank you very much!**_ ” Loki was laughing as your face turned even more red than it had already been turning and he pulled you back onto the floor with him to sleep.

“ _ **Of course little one,**_ ” he purred in amusement.

-

Thor looked like he was dying as his laughter shook the room. He couldn’t even get in a full breath to explain to them what he thought was so funny. He started and sometimes if he was lucky get to the first letter or syllable of a word before breaking out laughing again, tears of mirth streaming down his face.

He did eventually managed to gasp out “ _she thinks his abs are nice_ ,” witch had them all confused and then amused when they were given more context.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here comes the real start of the plot train, toot toot here we go kids.

“ ** _So how exactly does this work?_** ” Loki demanded as he held the blue book out to you “ ** _it makes no sense in the context of your foolish midgardian science and it does not seem to actually align with any magic._** ”

“That’s cause it’s not magic,” you told him, switching to English to make sure you could communicate your point correctly “but how I remember it being explained is that certain shapes and symbols shoved together kind of twist the reality around it. They have a bunch of requirements and conditions too though.” you set down the knife you were using to slice up veggies and took the book from him.

“That sounds like magic,” Loki said skeptically.

“It’s not,” you repeated and pulled a piece of paper from the wall “the closest equivalent I can think for it is maybe alchemy? There’s a lot that goes into these, it’s not a twiddle your fingers and oh look fire. Not that it doesn’t have simple stuff in here but they still take a little while to set up.” you quickly and sloppily sketched out one of the symbols and then moved on to redo it next to it but much more cleaner and carefully this time “if you’re not precise and make sure you have every marking you might not get what you want or it’ll fail.”

“Well what happens if it fails?” Loki asked curiously.

“One of two things,” you said checking to make sure you had gotten the second one right “one, it just doesn’t work and you have to start over, two, it blows up.” Loki nodded and you slid the paper over to him “ok, so the messy one will probably just fail and maybe send up a few sparks but the one next to it will take care of it,” you warned him and slid the book over to him “think you can follow the directions in here?”

Loki nodded and put his hand over the paper as he scanned the text. The second he snapped his hangers he pulled his hand back in surprise as there was a small flash and water dropped out of the air and onto the paper, splashing across the counter top.

“What did it do?” he hissed and you grabbed his wrist in concern, eyeing the redness of his skin.

“The friction from the snap is used as a kick-starter to split and then rebind atoms,” you told him and pulled burn cream from the cupboard above you “it heats up the air quite a bit, I forgot to tell you I’m sorry.”

“It splits atoms?” Loki repeated.

“Best as Tori could figure out. Most of the reasoning is in the book.” Loki nodded as you applied the burn cream to his palm

“Why don’t you use these all the time?” Loki asked carefully, sensing that this may be a touchy subject.

You paused for a moment before you spoke, he had laid his soul out to bare for you, you may as well do the same “the first is because of people in the town,” he nodded in understanding “the second is because I don’t have them all completely memorized, in fact I really only know three of them and tentatively remember like two more, and third is because they take time to set up.”

“But would it not be better to ward your house with them?” Loki questioned.

You gave a small bitter smile “technically the house is already warded,” you told him “but a lot of the markings were broken when my brother was killed and those that weren’t have been eroded away enough that they’re no longer safe to use or become cracked. Nature is not stagnant and likes to change. I don’t have enough skill to repair or set up lasting new ones.”

“Why is that?” Loki asked.

“because I’d have to carve them into rocks or trees and I’m not that precise,” you sighed “there’s like a total of three of these that haven’t been altered in any way. The one in the basement making sure it stays one temperature, the one in my bedroom that keeps it from getting cold, and the fire starter inside the fireplace.”

“How did these ones stay?” Loki asked as you pulled out bandages to wrap his hand.

“Because no one noticed them,” you said simply with a shrug “anyways, I’ve gotta head into town today, you wanna come?”

Loki grinned “am I allowed-”

“No. stop flirting with people,” you growled and Loki laughed and leaned in close to you.

“Why? Are you jealous little one?”

It was your turn to laugh as you headed for the coat rack “No, you just make it hard to drive when you surround my car with teenage admirers!”

Loki chuckled as he followed you, magicing on an actual shirt and coat as he went “so what are we getting today?” he asked you as he rearranged your scarf for you and handed you your goggles.

“Basic food supply and stuff for pudding,” you told him and watched as his eyes lit up. You grinned behind the scarf “you ready for a fun ride?” 

Loki huffed in annoyance “I’ve gotten used to your driving Little one though you could stand to slow down a little and enjoy the ride.”

“This is how I enjoy the ride,” you laughed “by speeding through most of it!”  
-  
You were laughing as Loki had to pry his hand off of the handle of the door frame and you went to take his shaking hands to help him out of the jeep, still laughing hard enough that there were tears in your eyes. “Y-you alright there bud?” you managed to gasp out.

“You nearly ran us off the road four different times,” Loki breathed out, grabbing onto the side of the car for support as he tried to regain his composure “I am never coming to town while you’re driving again.” his statement just made you laugh harder and pull your scarf down as you started towards Gregoris store.

When Loki was finally able to join you you had a basket half filled with medical supplies to restock the supplies at home, a box of acrylic paints, and a bottle of oil paint medium. When you spun out of the doors to the store with the bags slung around your arms Loki smiled and trailed ever so slightly behind so he could watch you bounce over towards the car and greet Knight who was sitting obediently in the back. When he climbed into the jeep next to you he found himself smiling again and relaxing back into his seat.

-

You were cut off from any kind of help, completely cornered with no way to run, and he knew it. Addams, the blonde from the fireworks party, was standing over you in the cereal aisle-a friend at either end pretending to browse while making sure you didn’t make a break for it.

“Hey sweetie,” Addams purred and got a little closer.

You moved the basket between yourself and him and gave him a tight lipped and forced smile “Good morning, Addams.” your gut was telling you to get out of here, and get out now. You were tapped though, if you tried anything it would cause a huge scene witch Addams could probably twist to his advantage.

“How are you?” he asked sweetly.

“Alive.”

“How’ve you been holding up with your visitor?” he asked politely and you tightened your grip on your basket.

“Fine.”

“Can’t I get more than a one word answer?” Addams asked with a pout. You didn’t say anything “anyways,” he continued “are you swinging by my place tonight? I’ve invited everybody and we’d love to have you.”

You took a deep breath “from school you mean?” you asked carefully, hoping this wasn’t what you thought it was.

“Yep,” Addams chirped with a wide grin.

“I’m sorry but I’m really busy right now-” you started and turned to reach for something on a shelf above you. Addams slid behind you and grabbed the thing for you, his other arm trapping you between him and the shelf as he purred into your ear.

“I’m sure you can made time. Otherwise we might just have to bring the party to you to make sure you relax.” he smiled as he felt you tense under him. “You can even bring your friend if you feel like you can’t trust him alone.”

“We have to start with high school assassination,” you told him and Addams chuckled in amusement before dropping you item in the basket.

“Intending on starting strong?” he teased as he took a step back from you.

Your body acted on pure instinct before your brain could stop it as you turned to him with a blank face and answered “yes,” before turning and beginning to walk down the aisle. Addams friend didn’t stop you as you passed and you quickly made your way to the cashier. You got all the way out and into the jeep with Knight sitting in your lap before Loki reappeared looking pleased with himself until he saw your face and frowned.

“What happened?” he asked as he hopped into his seat.

“You’re going to watch me drink a room of people under the tables tonight,” you told him flatly as you pulled out of the parking lot “I’m going to need you to stay sober so you can drive us home. Think you can manage that?”

“How’d you get talked into this?” Loki asked curiously.

“Old acquaintance from highschool more or less threatened to bring his part to my house,” you told him flatly “how well can you throw a punch?”

Loki scoffed “Little one I routinely went toe to toe with beasts worst than your could ever imagine.”

“But how well can you throw a punch?” you repeated.

“Well enough to protect you,” Loki promised soberly and then grinned “do you attract men like flies to honey then?”

“Only certain ones,” you said coolly, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter “so, lunch?”

“Is that little diner open?” Loki questioned.

“The one with the waitresses and waiters you’ve all seduced by now?” you scorned with a raised eyebrow but also a smile “yes.”

Loki grinned “then I belive you know where I’d like to go.” you chuckled and started your way to the diner.

-

Loki was almost sick himself watching you calmly set the tenth bottle in a row down and pick up the next, all the while keeping a passive and bored expression on your face. But he had to admit he was impressed, and then he got scared. You had drunk far less than this when he had drunk with you in your home. Had you been pretending? The thought horrified him. You and your tiny body might actually be able to handle a full cup of asgardian mead, something only the Captain had been able to handle thanks to his impressive metabolism.

“You should try outdrinking her,” one of the men said bumping Loki with his shoulder with a grin.

Loki gave him a grin in return “I would, but one of us has to be able to drive back tonight.”

“Just stay in town,” the man said dismissively and pulled him towards the table.

Loki simply held his position and shot a smirk at the man “but we wouldn’t want to disturb anyone during the night here…” he trailed off in his false implications and the man broke out in a knowing grin, shooting Loki a sloppy wink and a pair of finger guns.

“I gotcha~” he said and left Loki alone to try and outdrink you instead. Loki groaned internally at the foolishness of mortals, you were one of the few people he wouldn’t make a move on like that. He couldn’t stand the idea of breaking your trust in him like that and cuddling into you and teasing you every time you forgot you didn’t a live alone anymore and started to pull off clothing was as far as he would go. Though he did have to admit, he would like to not stop you one of these times and just watch, but that would make you extremely uncomfortable around him and possibly ruin his chances of staying near you.

And there he was again, admitting to himself that he loved basking in your happy smiles and light laughter and wanted to do so for the rest of time. He bitterly took a swig out of his cup of water, keeping his promise of staying sober so that no one could argue with him on his ability to drive you home tonight.

Loki watched as you suddenly reached across the table and slammed your opponent's face into the table, rage burning in your eyes as you stood up and hoisted him across the table so he was inches from your face. “Don’t you dare,” you hissed vehemently “ever even think about saying that again while within my general vicinity.”

“[y/n]?” one of the girls near you asked hesitantly as you dropped the man onto the table “what’s wrong?”

Loki watched as you looked up at the group of adults with a cold anger on your face “He is at MY house, under MY care, sleeping in MY room, helping ME with MY works because I-” you were panting now “am not a shallow and jealous bitch trying to impress everyone or get into his pants. I spend every night on my couch, I make breakfast, I do yard work, I finish my paintings, I got a dog and cat, _I am doing nothing other than helping someone and offering them a place to stay until they can return home!_ ” the room had fallen silent and you waited several minutes before continuing “and if any of you have a problem with that,” you hissed “I won’t bother you anymore.” there were several minutes of silence before Addams moved forwards and set a jug down on the table.

“Can you outdrink your guest though?” he asked calmly “He even out drunk me.”

“I can out drink you any day of the week several times over, not a huge achievement in my eyes,” you spat back.

“But can you outdrink **him**?” Addams asked coolly. You stared the blonde down for a few minutes before sitting back at the table and crossing your legs as your face slid back into an emotionless mask.

“Yes.”

The room turned to Loki to see if he would take up the challenge. He let out an exaggerated sigh “As much as I would love to outdrink my caretaker-”

“We can give you a drive,” Addams offered calmly and Loki watched him as a small smile spread across his lips, knowing there was no real way he could get out of this this time.

“Alright then.” Loki hoped you would forgive him as he sat down across from you and the game began. Loki remembered the first four drinks and then things started to go egg shaped. Around the same time you seemed to be looking a little worse for wear and about four drinks after that Loki blacked out.

-

“Holly shit,” one of the boys breathed as he backed away from the truck, shooting a worried glance at Addams.

Addams was grinning like a shark as he stared down at your sleeping form curled around Loki’s in the trunk of your car, Knight curled up by his feet. He was taking in every note of Loki’s arms wrapped protectively around you, the way your face was buried into his chest, the easy intertwining of your bodies that made it seem like the two of you had been cuddling and falling asleep like this for years. Then he pulled out his phone and took a photo before hopping down and starting towards his own car.

“Common guys~,” he practically sung as he pulled open the door to his car.

The others practically ran to join him before he left. One of the girls wondered out loud in a soft voice if you would be alright sleeping outside for the night. Their concerns were silenced when another girl spoke up though.

“She did call Loki right? Like as is New York destroying, villain turned ‘hero’ Loki right?”

Addams smirked “what other Loki do you know of?”


	21. Chapter 21

Someone was calling your name. Their voice sounded familiar and worried. You really hoped it wasn’t the doctor. You really hated him. Why was he even in your house? Had something happened? You had gone to the party last night and-the party. You let out a low groan and the voice calling your name got louder and you realized they were shaking you.

“Stop,” you moaned “no smoothie after drugs.”

“ _ **LITTLE ONE!**_ ”

You didn’t respond to that, to tired and cold to even try and give them a response right now. You felt the shift as someone picked you up and jumped out of something and the sound of something being kicked over before you started to feel slightly warmer. Something wet licked your cheek and a few minutes later you were being bundled up and set in front of something warm, whatever you were bundled up in extremely warm as well, and then someone was trying to get you to drink something. That didn’t work very well as you nearly choked on the drink and you half listened to the worried mutterings of someone else in the room. You lost track of time as you slowly warmed back up. You had changed positions at one point and the first thing you noticed is that you were leaning up against something and were extremely sore and everything ached. Next was that you were in front of the fireplace in your house wrapped up in, were those furs? Who knows. As you eventually shifted to look up at the thing you were leaning on you realized Loki's face was tucked into your shoulder and his arms were wrapped loosely around your torso. His eyes were closed and he looked exhausted.

You spent a few minutes watching him before wiggling an arm out the warm blankets and beginning to run it through his swept back hair with a small smile. You loved the style on him but remembered the curly mess it had been during the first few weeks he had been in your home. You vaguely wondered if he would let your braid or put it up in a bun. He’d probably demand to be able to do the same to you honestly and you were fine with that. You closed your eyes with a hand still in his hair and somehow drifted off just fine. Maybe it was the exhaustion.  
-  
When Loki woke back up he found your hand in his hair and smiled, that meant you had woken up, that was good. He glanced around and found your phone lighting up and buzzing nearby with an incoming call. When he spotted the caller he denied it and turned back to looking you over. There was far more color in your face then there had been earlier when he had woken up in the car with you on him, half frozen and snowflakes stick to your hair and skin. He had been terrified you had died or were going too for several hours until you started to loosen up inside the blankets and appeared to be getting slightly better. He still wasn’t sure what had happened but was almost certain the two of you had been drugged and the dropped off in the truck of your jeep. Oki would undoubtedly be having words with that Addams when he next saw him.

The phone buzzed again and Loki denied it a second time in favor of brushing hair out of your face and setting magic on not of your chest while he ran a hand down Knights back and scratched behind her ears. Loki picked up the phone when it rung a third time.

“This is a bad time,” he snapped “you have one minute.”

“You need to return to the tower,” Tony Stark's voice ordered “you have been missing for months now with no contact other than those two phone calls.”

“What makes you think I need to come back?” Loki asked coolly “I have no real reason to stay with you pathetic mortals, all I have to do is stay here on midgard until Odin decides that I’ve done enough ‘community service’. No one said it had to be with you.”

“We did,” Tony growled “and if you don’t come back willingly we will hunt you down and never let you go again.”

“Yes, and you’ve been doing such a good job so far,” Loki drawled sarcastically and watched as you rolled over slightly.

“We’re already tracking this call-”

“Does Thor know?” Loki asked calmly and was met with a bead of silence “ooh, Stark, going behind his back now are we? Is Fury there? I’d love to thank him for calling the little one, she finally admitted how amazing I am.”

“Yes, we heard about your abs,” Tony said hissed “and on another note, who’s little one?”

“Oh look, your time’s up!” Loki said jovally and ended the call, using magic once again to make sure they couldn’t trace it properly.

“Loki?” you mumbled from the floor and he smiled down at you “did you call me little one over the phone?”

“And if I did?” he asked with a smug smile. You frowned and leaned away from him.

“You’re a jerk,” you whined.

“No, I’m amazing,” he purred and held you close “stay by me little one, I’ll make sure you stay warm.”

“But you’re supposed to be cold,” you gripped “this is supposed to me your time to shine and prance around on rooftops in short shorts and t-shirts and rub it in everyone else's face that it doesn’t bother you.”

Loki let out a snort of amusement and actually brightened up at the idea, truth be told he had never even thought of doing such a thing before now but now that he knew it was an option… if the avengers ever caught him winters would be spent much differently. “I do have magic,” he reminded you “I can be far more than just ‘cold’ little one.”

“Yeah,” you giggled “you can be drunk too.” Loki chuckled at that and held you a little closer as he looked up to the ceiling. If things had happened a little differently… if he wasn’t immune to the cold, if he had shifted forms, if they hadn’t parked the jeep close to the house, if they hadn’t decided to take the two of you home at all… Loki frowned deeply at the thoughts swirling in his head. If just one thing had changed last night there would have been a very real possibility of you not being alive and slowly recovering in his arms right now. This was not an idea he liked to entertain. He looked back down as your breathing evened back out to its slow pace and watched your sleeping face and a small smile came across his face.

But for right now you were alive, and that was all that mattered.

-

This was the first time Loki would be going into town alone. He did not like the idea but if the doctor found out you were sick he would hardly let you stay up at your own house until you had gotten better. While Loki had gotten you out of the metaphorical woods the cold had taken its toll and you wee suffering from an intense fever and needed some kind of medication. And that was why Loki was stepping out of your jeep on his own and jogging into Gregoris shop and calling out-

“What’s the best medication you have for fevers and such?”

Gregori looked up in surprise “Why?”

Loki hesitated and put up a concerned/worried/guarded mask and hesitantly stated “If I don’t have to state it I’d prefer not to.” you had told him that Gregori knew you didn’t like going to the doctors and to be careful.

Gregori instantly looked concerned “Is [y/n] alright? She hasn’t caught something bad has she?”

“Oh no, thank goodness no,” Loki reassured him with a smile “I’m simply in far better shape and the cold air and the long drive really aren’t good for her so I insisted I come alone.”

Gregori nodded in understanding “Of course,” then he pulled out a box from under his counter and riffled through it until he found a smaller box of medication “just take it,” he said when Loki tried to pay “[y/n] works herself far to hard and deals with to many things for one person to deal with alone. It’s the least I can do for that poor girl.”

Loki nodded in thanks and hurried out of the store and swung back into the jeep before stopping “I suggest you remove yourself from the vehicle before I do it for you,” he said coolly.

“What? Not gonna stab me right off the bat?” Addams asked smugly.

“It would ruin [y/n]s seats,” Loki told him, fighting back the urge to do just that.

“And you sure you haven’t ruined them just by sitting in them O’ _prince of asgard_?”

“If anything I have blessed them by sitting here,” Loki shot back with a smile at the blonde “your filth on the other hand…”

Addams simply smiled back at him and held up his phone, the photo of you and Loki curled up in your trunk showing “Just wondering, but how do you think Doc would like this?” he asked slyly “especially when I elaborate on who you are?”

“I imagine he’ll be offended,” Loki said simply, intertwining his fingers on his lap as he leaned back in his seat.

“Oh I would think so,” Addams chirped and opened the jeep door to get out “in fact, he might decide that we have to come and save her from you.”

Loki didn’t react as Addams stepped out of the car and waited until he had taken a few steps back before backing the car out and starting back towards your home. As he drove he waved a hand and watched as Addams clothes shifted into a hello kitty patterned dress and then Loki was out of his view and flooring it.

The second Loki had the car parked he was teleporting into the kitchen, throwing the keys onto the counter, and then teleporting into what he now knew was your bedroom(how he had never figured that out before boggled his mind) and pulling out the medication to figure out how to use it. 

“What in the nines does it mean by do not arisolize? Who in their right minds would do such a thing?” Loki hissed through his teeth and a soft giggle rose from your bed. Loki looked up in worry as his eyes met yours. “Little one,” he pleaded softly running a hand through your hair “go back to sleep.

You stuck your tongue out at him as your face scrunched up in annoyance and pain “why would I do that when sleeping sucks?” you whined weakly and Loki ran a hand down his face. Since the fever had come up you had quickly gone delirious and your filters had flown out the window.

“At least try little one?” Loki tried “if you sleep more than four hours I’ll make muffins.”

You let out a snort and muttered “like you’re any use in the kitchen princy.”

Loki put a hand over his chest and feigned offence “how many times have we worked together?” he gasped.

“Not enough!” you cried out and tried to weakly wriggle out of the cocoon of blankets he had made you “you still think you need to put cumin in the bread!” Loki smiled slightly and scanned the instructions on the medication again.

“Do you think your could stomach some food and water?” he asked as he started running a hand through your hair again. You let out a low hum as you looked at the wall across from you. Loki took that as a yes and summoned you some simple food and more or less forced you to eat before giving you the medicine and a glass of water. Before he could think about leaving the room again you had somehow worked your way out of the cocoon and were curled up with your head resting on his lap, half asleep again as you hummed your way through an old lullaby. Loki sighed as he ran a hand through your hair again and after a little while cast a sleeping spell so that you could actually rest before leaning back against the wall and closing his own eyes.

-

It had been close to a week since Addams had left you and Loki outside and you had finally managed to kick most of the fever, not that Loki was letting you leave your bed for more than a few hours at a time and anytime you even started to slightly show symptoms he would wrap you back up and dump you on the mattress. The only good point of this was that you got him to agree to sleep with you when he did this but he always ended up asleep before you did, one arm wrapped around your waist to keep you from getting away as you rested your head on his chest like a pillow. You normally wouldn’t mind, it was nice to have someone else right there and snuggle into them, but you could never sleep now unless you managed to sneak the melatonin the doctor had gotten you or Loki used a sleeping spell on you. You didn’t tell Loki about the sleep medication, he didn’t need to worry about you not sleeping.

You had a feeling he might know anyways though.

Right now you were in the living room with Loki draped across your lap reading a book while you painted, his eyes flicking to the canvas every few minutes to watch your progress as the flower garden slowly formed under you brush. “ _ **Do you want to paint**_?” you asked him with a smile and he gave a small huff.

“ ** _Such tasks are beneath me._** ”

“ ** _Summon another canvas and I’ll teach you,_** ” you offered him and went back to painting. A few minutes later Loki was sitting next to you as you sketched out the sections of the painting and pulled out the acrylics “so you do flat color I do shading?” you asked and he nodded. You quickly directed him where and what to paint and thirty minutes later he had thrown the brush across the room and yelling at it for not working as you laughed at him.

“ ** _This is absolutely useless and I will never use this skill! I refuse to continue any further!_** ” Loki raged and you kept laughing “ ** _Stop doing that!_** ” he ordered and you just fell to your side as you struggled to breathe.

“ ** _Never!_** ” you cried as you tried to push yourself back up and broke out laughing even harder at the expression on his face.

“ ** _How did you ever learn such an atrocious art!?_** ” Loki snapped “ ** _this is absolutely impossible!_** ”

“ ** _ANSWER ME!_** ” Loki shouted as you kept laughing at his obvious distress. His face turned to an angry frown and then his trademark cunning smirk as he stepped towards you “ ** _I guess I’ll just have to tortue the information out of you since you refuse to tell me._** ”

You shot up on the couch with a screech of “ ** _NO!_** ” and bolted for the door, still laughing as Loki vaulted over the counter after you. You got close to four yards outside of your door before Loki tackled you into the snow and tried to tickle you.

The clearing was quickly filled with your shrieks of laughter and Knights excited and worried barking as she came tumbling out of the house after the two of you. 

Loki was pleasantly winded and his cheeks hurt from smiling for once as he hoisted you over his shoulder and trotted back to the house, waving a hand to put away your painting supplies and stock the living room with warm blankets. He checked his hand as he did so and was pleased to see the lack of blue on it. You were still softly chuckling as Loki wrapped you up in the warm blankets and lit the fire before going to find the things for cocoa.

“ ** _It feels more like you’re taking care of me than I you,_** ” you mused as he struggled to find the chocolate powder you liked.

“ ** _It certainly does doesn’t it?_** ” Loki hummed back and gave a small noise of victory as he found the powder.

“ ** _How come you’re putting in so much effort into caring for me?_** ” you asked and watched as Loki halted for just a moment.

“ ** _What good would it do me to have my host sick?_** ” he asked simply and you tilted your head with a small smile “ ** _why are you smiling?_** ” he demanded.

“ ** _I hope you know you’re a good friend,_** ” you tell him “ ** _probably the only one that’s genuinely cared this much too._** ”

“ ** _And you’ll be gone in under a century, ** _” Loki quipped “ ** _I could fully justify this as an experiment or fleeting pastime._** ”_**_**

**_**_“ ** _But it isn’t, is it?_** ” you tease with a growing smile “ ** _you actually enjoy having me around all the time don’t you?_** ”_ ** _ **

**_**_“ ** _I did say as much when you invited me to stay did I not?_** ” Loki sighed as if he was talking to a child._ ** _ **

**_**_You smiled as the cup appeared in your hands and then almost choked as he spoke again._ ** _ **

**_**_“ ** _Though I will admit that I’m still waiting to see what’s actually under all of those layers and baggy clothing._** ”_ ** _ **

**_**_“ ** _L-LOKI!_** ”_ ** _ **


	22. Chapter 22

To say Loki was pissed was an understatement.

He was far passed pissed.

He was two steps away from bringing absolute hell onto this pathetic planet damning the repercussions and laying this useless hunk of rock to waste.

And yet he was smiling.

“Addams said he invited you to a party and dropped you off at your house afterwards,” the doctor said “I hope everything was ok?”

You gave the doctor a weak smile as you tried to find a way out of the situation “I was certainly invited to a party.”

“Gregori mentioned that you weren’t feeling well afterwards,” the doctor said casually, eyes looking you over for any sign of illness. You hoped he wouldn’t purposeful mistake your discomfort as an injury “are you well again?”

“As well as she could be after getting drugged and left out in the snow for several hours,” Loki cherped with a shark like smile. The Doctors gaze snapped to him.

“What?”

You cringed as the doctor zeroed in on Loki who simply shifted the weight of the basket in his hands “Oh, you didn’t know? Not surprising I guess considering people in this town wouldn’t want your anger yes? Perhaps you could bring it up with our wonderful host for that night.”

The doctor's eyes snapped back to you as you focused solidly on the floor. You wanted to flinch back as he moved forwards and brushed your hair out of your face and forced you to look up at him as he searched your face “I’m fine,” you managed to say clearly and looked to Loki “Tom made sure nothing happened after he woke up.”

“What does that mean?” the doctor hissed, looking back to Loki “explain.”

“Our darling host, Addams I believe,” Loki began pleasantly as he moved slightly closer to you “was rather insistent that I attempt to outdrink dear [y/n] here after she had already drunk a considerable amount of alcohol already. He eventually offered to drive us home and I relented. I believe it was about four drinks in that whatever drug was in the drink began to affect myself and not long after I’m assuming I passed out.”

The doctors eyes had narrowed and his grip on your shoulders had tightened.

“Next thing I remember after that is waking up in the back of [y/n]s jeep with her beside me late in the morning and being freezing cold. Lucky for her and I both that my lineage comes from the cold so I’m used to it. I was lucid enough to get us both inside and start the fire before I passed out again.” the lies rolled easily off of his tongue, even if they were mostly half truths “I recovered much faster so I took it upon myself to make sure [y/n] recovered as well. I guess you could say it’s the beginning of me paying her back for her wonderful hospitality.” there was a faint redness to your cheeks as he said that.

The doctor's eyes turned back to you “how much of that is true?” he demanded.

“All of it,” you said softly “he’s been making sure I sleep too.” the doctor's gaze flicked to Loki again, this time in slight surprise rather than suspicion.

“I was under the impression that that was how one healed,” Loki shrugged, casually looking away but searching for Addams who seemed to have disappeared during their conversation but a forced playful grin made its way onto his face “unless that’s not the case for you [y/n]?”

You stiffened slightly and looked over at him, a bit of hurt shining in your eyes “I told you I’m a normal person,” your voice was almost pleading and the doctor rolled his eyes.

“He’s teasing [y/n],” he grunted and finally removed his hands “I want you down at my office some time today so that I can make sure you’re really ok.” you nodded mutely and watched as he headed back towards the door.

Once he was far enough Loki hissed softly next to you through his pleasant smile “you would lose no sleep is he was to suddenly disappear yes? Along with a few other choice members of town…”

“Don’t.” you muttered softly and turned back to grabbing what you needed from the shelves.

Loki grabbed what you needed for you before you could “why not?” he demanded in a low tone.

“What do you think will happen if a bunch of people suddenly die by whatever mysterious way you’re planning on killing them?” you hissed back.

“Who said people would find the bodies?” Loki asked innocently and you shot him a wary look.

“Tom, No.”

“Alright,” Loki hummed “Tom, won’t do anything.”

You shot him a pointed look “please don’t,” you hissed.

Loki let out a low hum as he straightened back up from over you and cast a casual glance around the store “no promises.” you let out a low groan as you ran your hand down your face.

-

Addams winced as the doctor slammed his fist onto the table “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?” he roared “[Y/N] COULD HAVE-SHOULD HAVE DIED WHEN YOU LEFT HER THERE!”

“She should have died months ago,” Addams said softly and waited as the room went quiet, seeing this as his chance to explain himself he quickly pulled out his phone and handed it to the doctor, the picture of you and Loki curled up in the jeep showing on the screen. “The dude she calls Tom? Yeah, his name isn’t Tom.”

“You have one minute to explain and prove it,” the doctor hissed darkly and Addams took his phone back, pulling up another photo of Loki talking to the press while in a suit side by side one of him talking to you. Then he pulled up the statement that said Loki had been called back to Asgard for an undetermined amount of time.

“I don’t think the Avengers are being completely upfront with the world,” Addams said slowly and carefully, watching the doctor to gauge his reaction “I’m thinking the monster made a break for it and somehow ended up in [y/n]s woods.”

The doctor was silent for a few minutes before handing Addams his phone back and leaning against his desk as he thought. Some time later the doctor opened his eyes “how likely, Addams, do you think it could be that he’s charmed her into being a bargaining chip if they come after him.”

Addams didn’t hesitate as he took his way out “almost certain sir.” he watched with relief and a sadistic joy as the doctor pulled out his own phone.

“Calleb, get the men together, we need to talk about [y/n] and her current guest… yes, bring your son.” the doctor ended the call a moment later and turned his heavy gaze onto Addams “you try a stunt like that with [y/n] again and I find out - you will not last another day in this town.” Addams gave him a sober nod.

-

Loki let out a shout of surprise as you pounced on him from behind the couch and tried to tickle him with a scream of ‘sneak attack’. The two of you quickly rolled off of the couch and tumbled onto the floor, Loki above you with a mischievous smirk on his face, pinning your hands to the floor so your couldn’t try and tickle him again.

“ ** _Well that wasn’t nice_** ,” he purred.

You laughed “ ** _I was only return the favor from before._** ”

Loki tilted his head to the side as hs smirk grew “ ** _did it ever occur to you that you would fail?_** ”

You let out a low humm before breaking out into a wide grin “ ** _nope!_** ” you cried, popping the p “ ** _Knight, pull!_** ”

Loki could have easily stayed on you if he had wanted but he feigned offence as he allowed Knight to pull him off of you “ ** _you use my own training against me?_** ” he gasped, a hand flying to his chest as you laughed. Today had been a great day for you so far, a full night's rest without any nightmares and the feeling that everything was going to be alright for now was causing you to be far more playful, especially with the fact that there was someone to be playful with. You would be lying if you said you didn’t enjoy life like this.

“Heck **_yes_** you shouted as you shot up off of the floor and pounced at him. Knight wisely backed up and let the two of you struggle to tickle each other. Really it was just you trying to get past Loki's hands as he easily pulled yours away each time you got close.

Eventually he had you pinned back on the floor and you were to out of breath to do anything about it. The gentle smile on Loki's face and the quiet joy in his eyes was more than enough for you. The corners of his mouth quirked up slightly and Loki opened his mouth to start saying something but Magics sudden appearance and waltz across your face interrupted him. The offended and almost angry look he shot the cat had you laughing again and Loki let you up with a small huff of annoyance.

“ ** _You wanna make a_** cheesecake?” you asked after a few minutes and Loki raised an eyebrow “ ** _they’re good, trust me._** ” you promised and he let out a resigned sigh and held out a hand to have you pull him up.

“ ** _Really?_** ” you sighed but grabbed his hand anyway and managed to get him off the floor.

“ ** _You’re the one who wants to cook,_** ” he argued and followed you into the kitchen “ ** _why are we making cheesecake now though?_** ”

“ ** _Because I wanna get a headstart on_** thanksgiving?” you shrugged and started pulling out pans and things.

Loki leaned against the counter as he watched you “ ** _that’s the midgardian holliday with the trees right?_** ”

You let out a laugh “ ** _no, that’s_** Christmas. **_It is coming up soon-ish though,_** ” you told him “Thanksgiving **_is when you’re supposed to meet up with family and be thankful for what you have._** ”

“ ** _I think the Avengers did something for that,_** ” Loki mumbled while he nodded to show he understood “ ** _it involves a large feast typically, yes?_** ”

You nodded “ ** _yep, but I typically only make a couple of pies or something and drop them off at the houses of people I like in town._** ”

Loki paused for just a moment “ ** _what about this year?_** ”

You paused as well “ ** _do you want to stuff your face so full of food you feel like you’re going to throw up?_** ”

Loki made a face “ ** _that sounds horrid, why would anyone do that?_** ”

You chuckled “ ** _no idea but it seems to be a trend for people to do. Do you have any favorite dishes here of Midgard or is there anything we can make that’s similar to what you’d get on Asgard?_** ”

Loki paused as he thought it over “ ** _I doubt we could properly make any of the food of my homeland but I do-_** ”

“ ** _We’re not making pancakes,_** ” you cut in with a smirk and watched his disappointed pout before he returned to thinking.

You were mostly done preparing everything to make the cheesecake when Loki spoke slowly “ ** _we could try something akin to an Asgardian feast,_** ” he began and your eyes lit up “ ** _it would involve a lot of beer._** ” he warned and you shrugged, flashing him a warm smile.

“ ** _Loki, if you wanted to do anything to me before now I would never have been able to stop you. Especially when I was sick._** ” you told him and turned back to the pan “ ** _so how much alcohol we talking about here? Is the goal to get as drunk as possible or pleasantly buzzed by the end?_** ”

Loki snorted “ ** _depends on the person_**.”

“ ** _Pleasantly buzzed then,_** ” you chirped and shot him a grin, faltering slightly as you watched him staring intently at the table “ ** _something wrong?_** ”

“ ** _Little one, just how much can you drink?_** ”

You paused, looking at him in surprise “ ** _um, I don’t really know? Halfway through the competitions I stop paying attention to the labels and focus on drinking people into the ground. Why?_** ”

Loki let out a small snort before falling quiet again for a moment “ ** _were you pretending that night we drank together?_** ” he asked hesitantly.

You stopped working and struggled to find an answer before eventually settling on closing your eyes and letting out a sigh “ ** _yes and no._** ” you didn’t see Loki look up at you as your eyes were still closed “ ** _I was certainly on the way to being drunk but I also wasn’t really trying to keep myself not drunk so I didn’t bother putting up any of my normal walls._** ”

“ ** _What does that mean?_** ” Loki asked softly.

“ ** _It means I didn’t care if I got drunk or not because I trusted you enough not to try anything right then._** ”

You didn’t see the pleasantly shocked look on Loki's face as you turned back to your work and opened your eyes to focus. A few minutes later Loki came over to stand by you and help.

“ ** _What are we going to do when the Avengers come after you?_** ” you asked softly as the two of you stared at the mostly finished cheesecake.

“ ** _What do you want to do?_** ” Loki asked just as softly, not letting any of his worry show in his words.

You paused for a moment before answering “ ** _I honestly don’t know. I guess it depends how they try and do it?_** ” Loki nodded for you to go on “ ** _I mean if they come in all guns blazing and not giving you a chance to explain yourself I’m gonna object, but if they come just asking for you back I have no real reason to stop them._** ” 

“ ** _That’s understandable,_** ” he murmured and suddenly smiled **_“and how do you plan to object to the Avengers little one_** ” he teased.

You failed your hands around in frustration “ ** _I don’t know? Throw a pot or something at them until they pay attention? Throw myself in harms way so they have to stop-_** ” you were about to go on but stopped in surprise when Loki turned you around, holding your shoulders tightly.

“ ** _No._** ” he told you flatly “ ** _try that and I will make Knight drag you to safety by your neck._** ”

“ ** _That’s kind of counterproductive,_** ” you sighed.

“ ** _The Avengers are soldiers, Little one,_** ” Loki growled “ ** _and they are hardly observant as to who is friend or foe._** ”

You pressed your lips into a thin line before answering “ ** _and professional assholes from what you’ve told me._** ”

Loki’s face cracked into a small smile at that but his grip tightened “ ** _If they attack me you can’t get involved,_** ” he insisted.

You looked up at him for a moment “ ** _fine_** ,” you sighed looking away “ ** _but at least don’t start a fight with them._** ”

“ ** _Why would I?_** ” Loki sighed “ ** _that would be pointless._** ”

You stuck out your tongue and ducked out of his grasp “ ** _time to put this in the fridge,_** ” you chirped changing the subject. Loki waved a hand and the cheesecakes disappeared. “ ** _Thank you,_** ” you said grinning and Loki gave you soft smile in return.


	23. Chapter 23

It was two days before Thanksgiving and you were scrubbing the flower up off of the floor from your latest cooking spree with Loki. To say that it had gotten out of hand was an understatement. 

-

“ ** _Loki No! You can’t put Tapatio in Jonnas ice cream cake!_** ”

“ ** _Oh yes I can, and I shall enjoy watching every moment of her discomfort_**

 

“ ** _NOOOO!_** ”

-

So here you were at five in the morning taking your latest bucket of dirty and now unusable water outside and dumping it out into the snow. For the last week or so you hadn’t been sleeping well, no matter what means you used to try and help now that you actually wanted to kind of sleep. The melatonin just wasn’t helping and when Loki would use magic to put you to sleep(he had told you what he was doing and you informed him that you were absolutely fine with it), you would just wake up from a nightmare you had trouble remembering. 

The nightmares with your brother were still a common occurrence though.

So you would wait for Loki to go to sleep and then carefully maneuver yourself out of his arms and start working on other things. Even though you weren’t sick anymore sleeping together was basically the norm now. Loki thought he was being stealthy satisfying his need for cuddles by making sure you slept and you just felt more at ease with another person next to you. Cuddles were amazing.

This being said, you were still a little unsteady on your feet and a more than slightly brain-fogged. Putting the knives away you nicked yourself and let out a small hiss of pain. As you were washing your hands off you suddenly looked up at the sky with a frown.

“ ** _Don't you dare rat us out._** ”

You paused for a moment, your sleep deprived brain wondering why it had just made you say that.

**Because Someone Was Going To Rat You Out.**

You nodded to yourself at this explanation and finished cleaning the kitchen.

-

Heimdall gave a short snort of amusement “I am sorry my prince,” he began “I have just been instructed not to ‘rat them out’ as it were.”

Thor halted in confusion “what? Who ordered you not to?”

“I belive you know her at ‘little one’?”

Thor frowned “where are they Heimdall?”

“I cannot tell you an exact location.”

“Because a child told you too!?”

“She is more than simply a child, you will figure it out eventually once you meet her,” Heimdall told him simply.

Thor let out a low growl of frustration as he ran his hands through his hair “well what can you tell me then?”

“They are still on the American continent, but on the other half of it from the Avengers base.”

“Anything else you can tell me?” Thor grunted.

“They are in the mountains and the little one suffers from nightmares.”

“Thank you, Heimdall,” Thor sighed “Now I must go back to the Avengers to inform them of my findings.”

-

Loki watched as you jogged towards your jeep, arms laden with cheese and ice cream cakes as you packed them into the trunk. He himself had two cakes in one hand and Knight and Magic’s leashes in the other. The cat was curled around his neck like it was normally and Knight was close to knocking you over as she bounced around your legs.

“ ** _Remember, this’ll probably be our last trip into town,_** ” you reminded him “ ** _is there anything you want for over the winter?_** ”

“ ** _Hmmm, how about a twenty-pound bag of candy?_** ”

You chuckled as you took the cakes from him and packed them into the truck with the rest. “ ** _I don’t think that would last you all winter._** ”

“ ** _So three twenty pound bags?_** ” Loki asked with a grin and you laughed.

“ ** _Maybe~_** ”

Loki’s face lit up “ _ **really?**_ ”

You laughed again as you opened the backdoor for the pets to climb in “ ** _I don’t know, I’ll decide when we get there._** ” Loki pouted “ ** _Come on Loki,_** ” you said and dragged him around to the passenger side. Before you could jog back around to your side though he stopped you and wrapped the scarf around your face to protect you from the cold before quickly pulling your hood down over your eyes.

You let out a short laugh and tossed his own scarf in his face as you pushed your hood back to put on your goggles. As you pulled out onto the road you began chanting the Little Einsteins theme song. Loki couldn’t help but smile and eventually sing along with you.

He loved your smile and the way you had started to just light up a space as you grew used to talking with him more and more. It was like he was watching a butterfly emerge from a cocoon.

And he was loving every second of it.

-

You explained how delivering the cakes was going to work and the next thing you knew you were the getaway driver as Loki and Knight ran up to houses and practically dropped the food on peoples doorsteps before booking it back to the car. You were both laughing happily by the time you pulled up to the food store and Loki carried the basket for you as you went through your shopping list. As you went through the checkout line he was behind you with his chin resting on the top of your head. The cashier wiggled her eyebrows at you.

“Ooh, [y/n],” she teased “I didn’t think you were the type for tall, dark, and mysterious~”

Your face went a deep red as you tried to stutter out a response, Loki, however, decided to make things worse by reaching over you and taking the cashiers hand to kiss lightly. Now it was her turn to blush as Loki purred “Didn’t take you for tall, dark, and mysterious either~”

You wanted to dig yourself a ten-foot hole and die in it from embarrassment as you paid for the food and quickly worked your way out of the door. “Tom, please stop flirting with everyone,” you pleaded and pet Knight on the head briefly before setting the bag of flour in the trunk and going back for the sugar.

“I could promise I wouldn’t but that would be a lie,” Loki chuckled “watching them blush and fawn over me is hilarious.”

“Tom,” you whined, “Imagine what valentine's day is going to look like!”

Loki was stopped from responding as someone else cut in “That is if he’s still here.” you looked sharply as your alarm spiked, eyes locking onto the familiar shock of dark curls half hidden by the wide-brimmed hat.

“Var!” you squeaked in alarm. You hadn’t seen him in years as he did his best to avoid you.

“Hi, [y/n],” Var didn’t even look in your direction as he addressed you, eyes locked onto Loki instead “I’m Var,” he introduced himself and held out a hand. Something was screaming that you needed to grab Loki and run “the deputy for the town here.”

“Tom,” Loki introduced himself in turn, taking the hand “how can I help you, deputy?”

“By leaving,” Var said flatly, “and not lying to my face.”

Your blood ran cold but Loki just put on a confused smile “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

Vars grip on Loki’s hand tightened “I know who you are and what you’ve done,” he hissed “you seem to care about [y/n] at least a little bit so I’m giving you your one and only warning. Leave now, and no one will get hurt.”

“Var-” Loki cut you off before you could get any further.

“I’ll take this warning to mean none of you like me then, sad,” Loki sighed ”I was hoping we could get along.”

Var let go of his hand and turned to you “[y/n], kick him out,” he warned, “Kick him out and show them they’re wrong.”

You were shaking slightly as his intense gaze met yours “I can’t Var,” you said softly and his face fell ever so slightly.

“Then that was your warning too,” he said softly and started off.

Loki was quickly by your side and pulling you towards the car as he gently asked, “who was that?”

“Var, my brothers old best friend,” you whispered and Loki rewrapped your scarf around you “he believed the rest of the town instead of my brother after he shoved a kid off of someone's barn.”

Loki nodded as you climbed into your seat and he hurriedly got into his own. Knight popped her head up between the two of yours seats and let out a small bark as Magic waltzed onto your lap right after you got buckled. You gave the cat a small smile and pulled out of the parking lot.

“[y/n]?” Loki asked eventually “would things be easier for you if I left?”

“No.” you replied instantly “dealing with the town may get a little crazy but I can’t really imagine my house without you in it anymore.” the declaration made him smile.

“You still want me to stay then?”

“ ** _As long as you’re willing to._** ”

Loki smiled wider at your use of Asgardian and settled back into his chair to wait until you both arrived back home. And home that little cabin was becoming.

-

You think that maybe shooting things off of a tree stump was not what Loki thought you would do when Loki challenged you to target practice to start Thanksgiving off. Sure, Loki nailed his target dead center every time, but you often destroyed them since they were paper cutouts. When you were to busy laughing to pay attention to what he was doing Loki pulled out a pair of training knives and dove at you with a cry of -

“ ** _Protect yourself mortal!_** ”

You shrieked and barely had time to switch the safety on your gun off and drop into the snow before Loki hit you. The prince was laughing as you ran for the house, shouting for Knight to help you. The young wolf of course came at your call and tried to stop Loki from going anywhere. Loki simply ignored the additional weight and continued after you, dragging Knight along.

You pulled the closest sword off of the wall and ducked back out of the house, falling flat on your face to avoid a knife thrown at you.

You sent a small spray of snow up as you rolled and ran further into the lawn, only slightly struggling through the deep ice. Loki charged after you with a laugh and you just barely caught his attacks on your sword. Thus began the dance of a fax battle.

You were never afraid of Loki hurting you, his eyes were playful and his smirk was one of amusement not danger. He had also explained that battle was a huge part of Asgardian life at fights between friends were common.

That didn’t make the snow any less cold when he tackled you into it though. Loki was over you, pinning one of your hands above your head and trapping your other underneath your own sword with a grin on his face. “ _ **You alright there little one?**_ ” he asked playfully.

“ ** _It’s cold and you’re vicious!_** ” you complained but with a smile of your own plastered across your face. Loki chuckled but didn’t get up. The cold was actually starting to seep in through your thick sweater now. “ ** _Loki?_** ”

“ ** _Hm?_** ” he was watching your face with a soft smile on his.

“ ** _Can you get off? It’s starting to actually get cold,_** ” you asked hesitantly.

Loki blinked as his smile faded slightly and he quickly got off of you before flashing you another grin “ ** _Sorry, I forgot you don’t handle the weather as well as I do,_** ” he apologised “ ** _shall we go in to our feast?_** ”

Loki hauled you to your feet as you nodded and picked up your sword as you went. The table inside your house was covered in food and both you and Loki plopped yourselves onto the couches after grabbing your own plates of food. Loki filled the time by talking to you about magic theory and showing you tricks and small illusions and had you explain more about the not spells in your brothers' book. You were interrupted in drawing out a complicated shield glyph when your phone rang.

You picked it up in confusion, wondering who could be calling you today “Hello?”

Nick Fury's voice came over the line and you nearly dropped the phone “hello.” Loki was instantly alert at your slight distress “Can we talk?”

“Who is it?” Loki asked you before you could answer.

You hesitated for a moment “what do you want to talk about Mr. Fury?” Loki stiffened across from you and held out a hand for the phone, you shook your head at him as you fidgeted.

“I’d like to ask why you’re harboring Loki in your home.”

You paused for a moment “because he needed help.”

“At least put it on speaker,” Loki hissed to you and you did so.

“And why would you help him, surely you know what he’s done?” Fury asked.

“In his defense that was under extreme duress,” you shot back, hands pressed between your legs to keep them from shaking as you talked back to a man who could probably have you assassinated the second he knew your name.

“Is that what he told you?” Fury mused.

Something inside you took extreme offense at that “and what would you tell me?” you snapped “why should I trust your word over his?”

“Miss, I’m the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., it’s my job to take care of people like him.”

“And?”

“He is not someone to pity and take care of like a house cat. I’d like to assume your some poor misguided civilian so I’m going to give you this one chance, call us in or we will come swinging.”

“How?” Loki finally spoke up “it’s not like you’ve been able to find us yet.”

There was a short pause and you couldn’t help but feel a slow-building sense of dread “some new information was found. Your days out there are numbered Loki, turn yourself in and things might go a little easier.” your eyes flicked to Loki’s in worry.

Loki watched your face carefully as he reached out for the phone “good luck finding me then.” then he ended the call “[y/n], may I break this?” he asked softly. You nodded and the device was snapped in half in his hands and then vanished.

You crumpled backward into your seat “ ** _that man is intimidating and I can’t even see him,_** ” you whispered shakily.

Loki gave you a small half smile “ _ **he would refrain from hurting an innocent,**_ ” he told you.

“ _ **Am I innocent though?**_ ” you asked him with a sigh “ ** _I’ve had you in my home for months now, they could probably make a case for aiding and abetting or something._** ” you put your hands over your face.

Loki moved over to sit next to you and pulled you close “ _ **you look and act like a child little one,**_ ” he snorted “ _ **they will chalk it up it ignorance and send you home with a slap on the wrist at most.**_ ” you wrapped your arms around him with a nod “ ** _now,_** ” Loki purred with a wide grin “shall we make use of all this horrible alcohol?”

You let out a small snort of amusement into his shirt and let him hand you a bottle. “ ** _Happy Thanksgiving I guess?_** ” you tried and Loki smiled.

“ _ **Happy Thanksgiving Little one.**_ ” 

The two of you clicked your bottles together and slowly got back into the groove of the night, the house soon filling with laughter and yelling as the two of you enjoyed yourselves.

-

Jonna looked to her husband, panic shining in her eyes as she ran a hand through her hair yet again, a nervous tick she had picked up through the years “she’s not answering!” she hissed.

“She’ll be fine Jonna,” her husband insisted, grabbing his wife by the shoulders to keep her from running off “we both know she has a gun under her sink for this very reason and if her guest is who they say he is then she’ll be protected.”

“But what if it was an act!?” Jonna cried out.

“Do you think she would have kept him around if it was?” he asked firmly “she has an uncanny gauge on people and would have gotten rid of him the first chance she had if he wasn’t good for her. And if we do anything Doc’ll have our heads.”

Jonna looked like she wanted to cry “but what if he can’t protect her!?” she wailed “Tori was powerful too and look what happened to him!”

“JONNA!” the woman stilled slightly as she sniffled and her husband lowered his voice, almost sounding hopeless “all we can do now is wait.” Jonna did start crying here and he wrapped her up in his arms.

Across town Doc climbed into the truck next for Var, watching as the rest of the group finished arming themselves and piled into the various vehicles. The older man turned to the deputy next to him.

“Var,” he asked coolly “are you prepared to do what may be needed?”

The young man's grip tightened on the steering wheel and a firm and emotionless “yes sir,” forced itself through his teeth.

“Good,” Doc said and turned back to the road “let’s get going then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THINGS ARE GONNA KICK OF FAST FROM HERE ON OUT SO BE READY KIDS
> 
>  
> 
> WE BOUT TO BLOW THROUGH SOME FIGHTS AND FEELS


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ARE YA READY KIDS!?

**Get Up**

Your eyes snapped open as your stared at the far wall for a moment, mind reeling from the sudden wake-up.

**GET UP**

You practically fell out of Loki’s arms as you scrambled to get up and completely ignored his slight stirring as you hurried into the living room. Your entire body was on edge as you looked around your living room, fear and dread creeping up your spine as your hurried to think of some kind of explanation as to why you could be feeling this way.

**They’re Coming**

It was as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water down your back as you dove for your sink and slammed open the doors to pull the handgun from its place. Panic was creeping in as you fumbled with the weapon, trying repeatedly to just load the stupid thing. When you finally slapped the cartridge in and looked out the front window you could see the approaching headlights and felt yourself lock up.

No

Nonononononononononononononononononononono

Panic was blocking everything else out as you stumbled away from the door. The cars were stopping. Panic was making it hard to breathe as you bumped into the counter. People were getting out of the cars. Something inside you was screaming for you to grab Loki and run but it couldn’t cut through the frantic static of your brain right now.

You wanted to scream as you door was pushed open. Your shaking hands had the gun pointed at the figure in the door but you would never shoot. You couldn’t.

“[y/n],” Var murmured and held out a hand “give me the gun.”

-

Loki woke up alone.

This was not abnormal, you normally slipped from his arms in the middle of the night to go do chores or keep yourself busy when you couldn’t sleep. 

But the blankets had never looked like you had thrown yourself from them before.

Loki was already on edge when he heard a muffled cry from the other room and the sound of snow boots on a heavy floor. Daggers were in his hands before his feet even touched the floor, his Asgardian battle armor shimmering into place as he began to teleport.

There were five men in the living room but Loki paid them no attention as he zeroed in on the one pulling you out the door. There was a shout of alarm from the men as he appeared and one chose the stupid action of trying to shoot Loki. Var looked at Loki with narrowed eyes and pulled the door shut behind him as he pulled you outside as if it would somehow deter the prince.

Loki would have to apologize for getting blood all over your floors later as he kicked the door off its hinges a moment later, a new wave of daggers already on their way to his attackers. His blood was boiling as he dyed the snow red, half registering the fire that began to bloom to his left. It was like cutting through grass for him, the pathetic mortals falling one after another at his feet. It was like they had never gotten in a real fight before.

When he spotted Addams trying to back away however Loki felt a vicious smile cross his face “Oh, no you don’t~” he purred and surged forwards, lifting the man by his throat. He relished the absolute fear in the man's eyes as he gripped tighter and tighter. “You,” Loki hummed as he ran a knife lightly down the side of Addams' face “made a very, very, large mistake when you decided to mess with my little one.”

Addams could only gasp and pry at his fingers in reply.

“I would cause you more pain then you could even imagine,” Loki rumbled, his grip tightening just a little more “but killing you will have to suffice. My little one is waiting after all.” Loki smirked as he buried the knife he was holding into Addams' chest and dropped him, watching for a moment as the man began to bleed out and choke at the same time. Oh, how he missed watching his enemies suffer.

There was a heavy impact in his shoulder and Loki turned slowly to face the deputy. Var was holding you with one hand behind him, which wasn’t hard really since you were kneeling in the snow with a terrified and shell-shocked expression on your face. Var met Loki’s gaze with a cold determination he would have expected from Hogun, not some weak mortal law keeper.

Loki flipped a dagger in his hands as he looked his new foe up and down “well that was rude.”

Vars response was clipped and cold “you just murdered seventeen men.”

“Yes, but I at least didn’t stab any of them in the back before we were already fighting,” Loki said with a shrug “now let [y/n] go.” Var let go of you but took another shot at Loki as he pulled a knife from his belt. Loki grinned as he dodged the shoot “ooh, looks like someone’s got a death wish.”

Var was in his face a moment later and Loki had to actually work to dodge his first strike. After the third attack, Loki knew what he was dealing with and started toying with the deputy, giving him a shallow cut here, a minor scrape there. Loki let out a dark laugh as Var stumbled after Loki embedded a knife in his leg.

“Having trouble?” Loki taunted.

A man trying to sneak up on Loki from behind was met with a quick death, courtesy of the new knife sticking out of his throat. Var managed to stick his knife into Loki’s leather armor but it went no further than the first layer. Loki grinned and had the deputy pinned on the ground a moment later, knife pressed against the other man's throat.

“As amusing as this has been,” Loki purred, watching as Var tried to get himself free, “I think I’m done with you now.”

Loki pulled back the knife to deal a more agonizing blow when you screamed “NO!”

Both Loki and Var looked towards you, tears were streaming down your face as you covered your mouth with your hands, choking back the sobs that threatened to take over. Loki’s face softened ever so slightly yet his grip on the deputy did not waver in the slightest.

“Little one?” he asked gently.

You pressed your hands more firmly over your mouth but managed to choke out, “not him-please not him.” your words were muffled by your hands but Loki understood.

Loki turned back to the man beneath him with a frown but otherwise bored expression “you are extremely lucky deputy,” he grunted, “whatever sentiment she holds for you is the only reason you are not dying in the snow like your friends.”

“They’re not my friends,” Var hissed.

“Good for you,” Loki said with a roll of his eyes “however, I’m not going to let you go without something to remember me by either.” with that Loki buried the knife in his hand up to the hilt into Var shoulder. To his credit, Var didn’t cry out in pain, but the grunt of pain he bit back made Loki smirk as he got up.

Loki dusted himself off slightly and looked around at the remaining members of the group with a cold expression “I tire of your presence,” he declared “you have ten minutes to remove your wounded and dead or I will kill you all where you stand.” there was a stillness in the air for a moment before Loki cocked an eyebrow “do you all crave death so much?” a few men began to move to grab their friends from the house.

Loki walked towards you and felt a sudden terror gnaw at him. You had just watched him viciously murder eighteen people in front of your house. You would think of him as a monster. Loki, of course, let none of this show as he pulled you up carefully by the arm and looked you over. There were still tears running down your face and you didn’t seem to quite be looking at him as he turned your face in his hands. Loki frowned again before pulling you close and turning back to the house.

To his surprise and dark delight, the Doctor stood in front of him holding a gun “let [y/n] go.” he ordered coolly. Loki held you up so you wouldn’t sag to the ground again as the Doctor spoke.

“I don’t think I will,” Loki shot back calmly “I rather like her under my arm as it is.” Loki already had a shield shimmering into place when the doctor fired and let the dark grin back onto his face “I was really hoping you would do that.” Loki did let you sag into the snow this time as he pulled a pair of daggers from nowhere and stepped forwards.

“Let’s dance shall we?”

-

Things slowly came back into focus as you sat curled up in front of the fire, a heavy blanket around your shoulders and a mug filled with cocoa in your hands. You managed to set the cup down before you spilled it all over yourself with your shaking hands.

“ ** _[y/n]?_** ” a soft voice asked hesitantly as tears began to fall down your face again.

" ** _H-how bad was it?_** ” you asked shakily and there was a small silence.

“ ** _I killed nineteen men tonight and it would have been upwards of twenty had you not stopped me._** ” you nodded dumbly and there was another small silence “ ** _you must think me a monster._** ” his voice was timid and vulnerable.

“ ** _Then my brother was a monster too,_** ” you told him.

“ ** _That… is the first time you have called your brother anything bad.._** ” Loki said hesitantly.

You pressed your hands together to stop them from shaking “ ** _if killing to protect the people you love makes you a monster then he was one too._** ” you choked out, staring into the fire “ ** _I'll admit, h-he was never that vicious most of the time, but this was hardly a normal circumstance._** ”

“ ** _Little one?_** ” Loki’s voice choked out. He sounded so confused.

“ ** _There was a reason they thought he was dangerous,_** ” you whispered, tears rolling down your face now and cracking your words “ ** _they came into the house tonight just like they did twelve years ago…_** ” a sob broke free and hesitant arms wrapped around you from behind.

“ ** _They will never touch you again,_** ” Loki promised softly.

“ ** _M-my brother k-killed ten people,_** ” you choked out “ ** _t-the first one was a shooter at my kindergarten. He came running in w-with this stick a-and just hit the m-man t-till he st-oped yelling._** ” Loki gripped you a little tighter “ ** _the next t-three were a g-group of bullies w-who k-kept hurting everyone and tried t-to go after m-me on my way h-home from school. T-then there was the kid who t-tried to m-make me-_** ” Loki cut you off with a tight hug that almost cracked something and you let out a gasp of pain.

“ ** _I’m so so sorry,_** ” Loki said quickly as he loosened his grip and turned so he could see your face. There were tears in his eyes as he brushed tears from yours “ ** _I-I didn’t mean to hurt you._** ”

You wrapped your arms around his neck and cried into him. Loki held you close as his own silent tears fell, partially out of relief that you weren’t terrified of him or hated him, but also out of joint sadness for you. He ran a hand through your hair, assuring himself that you were safe over and over again as he held you close. And he finally managed to say what he had wanted to for so long.

“ ** _I’m so sorry little one,_** ” he whispered, “ ** _I love you so much and I wish you never had to feel any of this._** ”

Loki didn’t think you would hear him over your own crying, and if you did he didn’t think you would register it. Unknown to him however you heard every word and hugged him tighter, tears keeping you from saying anything even close to understandable.

-

Fury was in a video call with the team as the shaky and low-quality video played on one of the various screens that had been pulled up, there was lucky no sound to go along with it. Bruce looked a little green and not from anger as he watched Loki tear through the group of men, he had always hated watching the Asgardian fight. There was always far to much joy in Loki’s face when he was killing people.

Thor spoke up as the video ended “the girl who stopped him from killing the man…”

Fury nodded “we believe that to be the ‘little one’ as Loki calls her. The only reason I’m not telling you to suit up now is because there’s about to be a large snowstorm in the area. And saying large is an understatement in this case.” The group nodded and Fury continued “the second that storm is gone though I expect all of you to be ready and on your way here to meet up with the agents I’m sending you in with. We’re not taking any chances with his capture.”

Tony raised a hand like he was in a classroom but didn’t wait to be called on “so this kid Loki’s with, who is she?”

“We don’t know,” Fury told him “the most we have on her is what we have from this video. It’s like she was never registered anywhere for anything. Not even a drivers license.”

“Facial recognition didn’t work?” Natasha asked.

“The footage wasn’t clear enough to use accurately,” Fury grunted.

“So,” Tony hummed from his spinny chair “for all we know she could be some evil enchantress who’s holed herself up in the mountain to do blood magic or some creepy alien disguising themselves as a human?”

Fury shot Tony a glare but gritted out a slow “yes.”

“Cool,” Tony chirped “can’t wait to meet her.”

Thor cleared his throat slightly and the room turned to face him “I believe she may be an Asgardian child,” he murmured. There were a chorus of ‘what’s through the room “Loki calls her ‘little one’ every time he refers to her and she speaks Asgardian with seemingly no difficulty,” Thor explained “and her height and actions are not unlike that of young ones back home.”

“So you think Loki kidnapped a kid from your home?” Steve cut in, looking shocked.

Thor hesitated “no,” he began slowly “but it would not surprise me if he somehow ended up with one.”

“So how do we do this?” Clint asked, “he’s clearly possessive of her and they’ll have a terrain advantage since they’ve been there longer.”

“Maybe we can use that to our advantage?” Nat began hesitantly.

Both Steve and Thor interjected with a strong “No. we are not using the kid against him.”

Nat raised her hands in defense “it was simply a suggestion. I don’t want to use the kid against him either.”

Fury spoke up and earned a glare from Steve and Thor as he did “Agent Romanoff may not be too far off though. Listen to me, nobody likes the idea of using a kid as a bargaining piece but this is Loki we’re talking about. If he actually cares about the kid you might get him to listen better if she’s there.”

Thor relented slightly “he may be a little less willing to fight in front of her,” he admitted, “but then again he may not.”

Fury nodded “I’ll leave the mission planning up to you lot, just make sure you properly brief me before you set out so I can be ready for whatever bullshit you people drag back with you.” the group nodded and the call ended.

Tony spun himself around in his spinny chair “So! How’re we gonna subdue both of them without hurting the kid?”

“They may not be an Asgardian,” Thor reminded them.

“But that means she is something else,” Tony said pointing to the blonde “and I for one would love to know what makes Loki so interested in her.”

“We can’t just go kidnapping people from their homes,” Bruce stated and Tony waved a dismissive hand.

“Only a kidnapping if they resist or someone misses them,” he stated matter-of-factly.

Steve ran a hand down his face with a groan “Tony, no.”

“Tony yes,” Tony said with a smirk “maybe we can use fire? We know Loki doesn’t do so well with the heat.”

Clint smirked, “I’m on board with that idea.”

“That’s hardly honorable-” Thor began but Nat cut him off.

“Neither is your brother Thor.”

Thor had to relent somewhat to that and sat back as the planning session got into full swing, eventually ending with Tony running off(dragging Bruce behind him) to create a new power suppressor for Loki while the rest of them pulled up maps of the area and began plotting out multiple contingency plans and ways to go about their tasks. Clint was given the annoying job of jotting down the plans for the people they would be working with while the other three actually did all of the plotting.

Meanwhile, the snowstorm got closer to your home.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> soooo.... more angst? is that what this is? I think fluff exists in here somewhere?

You shot upright, breathing hard, covered in cold sweat, and fighting back a sob as you curled back in on yourself and rolled onto your side a second later. A hand ran through your hair as arms wrapped tightly around you and Loki’s voice sounded close to your ear.

“ ** _You’re safe,_** ” he murmured softly as he ran a hand through your hair and held you close. He knew it was yet another nightmare that had woken you and you knew that he knew too so you didn’t even bother hiding your grief and left over fear. Loki let your cry for a little bit before gently guiding you to your feet and leading you to the kitchen “ ** _why don’t we make dinner?_** ” he prompted gently and you nodded before starting to pull out a pan and various ingredients, letting your muscle memory take over as you began to put together food.

Loki stopped you before you got very far “ ** _Why don’t we try something from my home?_** ” you looked up at him in surprise and he gave you a gentle smile “ ** _I do know how to actually cook some things from Asgard, even if they are simple meals._** ”

“ ** _Did your mom teach you this?_** ” you asked dimly as Loki lead you through the steps to make the meal.

Loki’s smile turned fond as he thought back “ ** _Yes, she would make it for Thor and I whenever we were sick or feeling horrible,_** ” he gave a small chuckle “ ** _I remember she had me help her make it for Thor once when his advances were turned down by a beautiful girl he was interested in._** _ _So he tried to ask a girl out, got turned down, and got sad enough that you had to make him a special meal?_ ” you thought it was hilarious._

_Loki chuckled with you “ ** _In his defence she was quite a woman and he was quite in love. I think it hurt him worse when I asked her to dance with me at a ball and she said yes. I will admit that I may have been a little boastful about that fact for a time._** ” you suddenly burst out laughing as you pictured Loki dancing with a girl, wiggling his eyebrows at his brother across the ballroom dance floor with a victorious smirk on his face._

_“ ** _Does Thor know how to make this as well?_** ” you asked and Loki nodded._

_“ ** _My mother made sure we both knew how to cook this, incase we ever needed it when she was unavailable. I guess you could call this our number one comfort food?_** ” you nodded and he gave a small smirk “ ** _I remember when I got it for a petty reason too, it was when Thor beat me in a small tournament when we were young. I had spent over an hour crying. My child self was devastated that they couldn’t push a tree over like his sibling._** ” you snorted in amusement and he grinned._

_“ ** _Your mother sounds cool,_** ” you hummed happily and Loki nodded._

_“ ** _I think she would find you cute,_** ” Loki told you and you shot him a small glare._

_“ ** _Is it because of my height?_** ” you grumbled and Loki shrugged innocently._

_“ ** _Maybe?_** ”_

_“ ** _Loki~_** ” you whined and the prince laughed._

_“ ** _Oh shush,_** ” Loki hummed “ ** _you’re adorable and you should embrace it._** ”_

_“ ** _I don't want to be adorable!_** ” you protested “ ** _I want to be a normal height so people stop thinking I’m a teenager!_** ”_

_“ ** _Well on Asgard you would appear to be the equivalent of an older child,_** ” Loki told you primly “ _ **so be grateful Midgardians are short or it would be worse.**_ ”_

_“ _ **I would look like a kid there!?**_ ” you whined in despar and Loki laughed “ ** _that would make things even worse!_** ” you complained._

_Loki laughed harder and the two of you managed to finish the meal together without any mishaps and curl up on the couches again, Loki half curled around you as you sat together. It was then that you noticed that your door was on its hinges again and the house was clean. Loki seemed to read your thoughts and gave a sheepish shrug._

_“ ** _It was only right that I clean up my own mess,_** ” he said softly and you nodded._

_“ ** _Thank you-wait is that a snowstorm!_** ” Loki let out a small noise of alarm as you leapt away from him and over to the window._

_“ ** _Little one!_** ” he whined as he picked up your bowl from where you had set it on the table and started over to you “ ** _the snow happens all the time, we were finally getting comfortable._** ”_

_“ _ **Yeah but snowstorms are kind of important,**_ ” you told him, pointing out to the almost wall of white outside the window “ ** _I gotta go tarp my jeep._** ”_

_Loki rolled his eyes and waved his hand “ ** _there, it’s taken care of now come back and eat,_** ” he grunted and handed you back your bowl, grabbing your arm before you could try running outside to check on your car. “ _ **Is there anything else you need taken care of?**_ ”_

_You paused for a moment then shook your head “ ** _everything else can wait until the snowstorm ends, though we will have to watch Knight and Magic when they go out to make sure they don’t get lost in the snow,_** ” you warned him and he nodded, pulling you down onto the couch with him._

_“ ** _And none of that has anything to do with us eating our comfort food and enjoying our peace,_** ” he told you and wrapped himself back around you as you smiled._

_After a while though Loki brought up a question “ ** _so I’ve noticed how you hardly add any new wood to the fire,_** ” he began slowly “ ** _and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you chopping wood…_** ”_

_“ ** _It’s the marking,_** ” you told him around your food “ ** _it preserves the fuel for as long as possible so that it can operate for longer. The only way to really put the fire out it my destroying the thing or dousing the fire. Hence the three buckets of sand next to the fireplace._** ” Loki nodded in understanding._

_You finished off your food and were about to get up but Loki hooked a leg around your waist and kept you in place “ ** _what do you need?_** ” he asked and you rolled your eyes._

_“ ** _I was going to grab my painting stuff so I could keep working on that flower,_** ” you told him and he summoned the things for you “ ** _thank you,_** ” you sighed and settled back down to work._

_After a while Loki summoned himself a cup of cocoa and a book and leaned back to enjoy himself, content in your presence now that everything was right again in his little world out in the woods._

_-_

_“ ** _Loki, come play in the snow with me!_** ” you called. The snow storm had let up for the time being, now closer to normal snowfall bust still thick enough to disrupt travelers journeys. That, however, did not keep you from running around in the still snowing air while you had the chance, a sword in one hand as danced through the falling flakes._

_Loki raised an eyebrow as he leaned against the door frame of the house “ ** _how about no?_** ”_

_You pouted at him “ ** _oh come on! You’ve played in the snow before!_** ”_

_“ ** _Yes but it’s gotten colder little one,_** ” Loki sighed “ ** _I don’t want to accidentally shift and hurt you._** ”_

_“ ** _It’ll be fine!_** ” you insisted as you began to tromp over to him, Knight bouncing around alongside you._

_“ ** _It very well might not be,_** ” Loki told you flatly as you took his hand and tried to tug him towards the snow. It was like trying to pull a mountain. " ** _If I accidentally shift I could seriously hurt you._** _ _”___

___You rolled your eyes “ ** _I’m covered head to toe in cloth,_** ” you told him in a bored tone “ ** _it’ll be fine. Now come make a snowman with me._** ”_ _ _

___Loki let out a noncommittal hum and you eventually abandoned him to make a snowman by yourself. After a while he gave a heavy sigh and came to help you since you weren’t tall enough to stick the head on it. After that you quickly came up with an army of small snowmen and Loki stood before them and shouted ‘Kneel’ witch you laughed at the ridiculousness of._ _ _

___“ ** _You find me funny do you?_** ” Loki hummed dangerously and you took off ‘running’ with a playful screech, knowing full well what was coming next. Loki took your legs out from under you in a moment and had you pinned in the deep snow with a smirk on his face “am I funny to you?” he purred._ _ _

___“ ** _Hilarious,_** ” you choked out, trying not to laugh._ _ _

___“ ** _Hmm, maybe I should teach you differently then~_** _/ _” he leaned in closer to you with a haughty smirk.___ _ _

_____Before he could try any tricks however you slapped a hand full of snow to his face with a giggle and wiggled out from underneath him, taking off again with a loud laugh. Loki nailed you in the back with a snowball of his own a moment later._ _ _ _ _

_____“ ** _You little minx!_** ” he shouted after you but you could hear the smile in his voice and dove for cover behind a tree._ _ _ _ _

_____You had a small stash of snowballs ready as you peeked back around the tree a moment later but paused in confusion when you couldn’t spot him. Turning back around you saw a flash of green just in time before Loki dumped an armful of snow on your head._ _ _ _ _

_____“ ** _Gottcha!_** ” Loki cried as you let out a startled gasp and the dove at him, smacking him in the chest with your snowball before grabbing another. The two of you were a laughing and giggling mess as you rolled across the snow, eventually ending with Loki pinning you beneath him in the snow again, a happy smile on his face, but there was some other emotion mingled in there as well that you couldn’t quite place. Looking into his eyes you noticed the slight difference._ _ _ _ _

_____“ ** _Woah, that’s cool,_** ” you breathed, losing yourself in the deep crimson._ _ _ _ _

_____Loki looked momentarily confused before he noticed the frost creeping along your coat where he had touched it and jolted back like he had been struck. He quickly checked his hands and found that they had turned the blue of his Jotun form and had spread most of the way up his chest. It had been a slow shift but a shift nonetheless and you watched him in mild alarm as he himself looked panicked as he tried to stop it._ _ _ _ _

_____“ ** _Loki? Loki, it’s ok,_** ” you tried to assure him and reached out for him but he recoiled. You hesitated for a moment but followed your gut “if your this worried then why don’t we go back inside and get some cocoa?” you suggested gently and Loki nodded, following as you led the way back into your house and put on a pot of water._ _ _ _ _

_____Once you had two large mugs filled with the drink you came and settled next to him, ignoring the way he cringed away from you and pressed the cup into his hands._ _ _ _ _

_____“ ** _Loki,_** ” you began softly “ ** _I think blue looks just as good on you._** ”_ _ _ _ _

_____“ ** _No you don’t,_** ” he said softly, staring down at his cup._ _ _ _ _

_____“ ** _You’re right,_** ” you murmured “ ** _I like green on you much better, but blue isn’t bad. The red eyes may be a little startling at first but they look awesome._** ” Loki turned and frowned at you “ ** _I’m an artist, trust me._** ” Loki scoffed “ ** _you gonna drink your cocoa?_** ” you asked him a moment later._ _ _ _ _

_____Loki paused for a second and then sipped his warm drink for a moment before settling more comfortably onto the couch, drawing his legs up into him. He seemed startled when you picked up a book from the coffee table and leaned against him to read. Just like when he had told you his past however, he eventually relaxed into your touch. Now with his Jotun form safely hidden away once more he eventually ran his hand through you hair and summoned a book of his own._ _ _ _ _

_____You don’t remember when you shifted to laying across his lap or when either of you fell asleep, but waking up with his fingers tangled in your hair and a peaceful look on your face had you softly smiling before curling into him and closing your eyes once more._ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loki was close but yet so far to actually kissing [y/n]. but in the end, does it really even matter?  
> ALL OF THE SHIPPERS: YES YOU IDIOT
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO- I know I'm horrible and I've been writing mostly angst for the past two? chapters, but don't worry, I promise it gets better. Like, a lot better. and then it'll get worse again. and then they'll maybe finally get over themselves and kiss. Not next chapter though! Next chapter's my favorite kind of train wreck!


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So these next two chapters are going to be shorter but after that things should go back to average length?

You paused as you watched the slowly falling snow outside the window. It was nothing as to what it had been just a day before. Something deep within your gut was prodding you and filling you with unease. Loki noticed you staring outside and paused as well with a slight frown, while the two of you were quite content in the quiet you generally didn't have such a quietly confused and disturbed expression on your face.

**_"Little one?"_** he questioned, setting down the box of cereal on the counter and leaving the bowl forgotten " _ **What's wrong?**_ "

You floundered for words for a few moments and finally let out a small huff, eyes nailed to some point in the distance " ** _I don't know._** " you confessed " ** _do... do you think anyone would try to get to us out here? We'd be snowed in if we didn't shovel every morning and night and I can only imagine the road would be worse..._** "

Loki stilled as he reached the conclusion you had missed and forced a gentle and reassuring smile onto his face " ** _I doubt anyone would be crazy enough to try and reach us in this storm._** " you let out a low hum and raised the mug of cocoa to your lips to sip. Keeping the smile on his face Loki waited a few moments, walked around the small kitchen and moved things about as if he was looking for something and then called out " ** _Little one? do we have any more juice?_** "

" ** _is the fridge out?_** " you asked distantly as you squinted at the distant skyline. Something didn't feel quite right about that cloud out there. it was almost like when the people from the town came to your house but it didn't feel... dangerous? the entire feeling was up in the air for once.

" ** _It appears so._** "

" ** _There should be more in the cellar,_** " you hummed as you took another sip of the cocoa. You always liked it best when Loki made it, it just always seemed better. Unknown to you, every time he made Cocoa he would add in an enchantment to ease anxiety and maybe, just possibly, only sometimes, a little bit of a sleeping spell.

" ** _I believe I've only been down there once, Little one._** "

you smiled faintly at the implied questioned and shuffled the blankets that had been erected like a tiny fort around so that you could escape, with one draped around your shoulders of course, and walked over to the much taller man to lean up against his arm tiredly. " ** _Want me to help?_** " you asked with a small smirk and another sip of the cocoa.

" ** _you are more than welcome to join me,_** " he agreed and then was quick to add with a smirk of his own " ** _not that I need it._** "

" ** _Of course not,_** " you chuckled softly and let him pull open the closet and then trapdoor that led down to the cellar " ** _hold my cocoa?_** " you asked softly and he took the cup from you as you slipped easily down the latter and turned into the room " ** _So what juice were you looking for?_** "

There was the distinct noise of your cellar door swinging shut and then you were trapped in pitch darkness and silence. You simply stood there for several moments as your eyes adjusted to the dark and then slowly turned back to face the ladder. While normal lit from above with the light from the trapdoor the resilient wooden ladder was just as dark as the rest of the room. " ** _Loki?_** " your voice sounded small as your feet carried you towards the trapdoor and then you were pulling yourself up the ladder and pressing your hands against the wooden trapdoor.

" ** _Loki? Loki, what's going on?_** " fear was creeping into your voice as the feeling from before solidified somewhat and turned ice cold in your gut "Loki. Loki!" you started pushing up against the wooden trapdoor with enough might as you could muster, not even moving it an inch as you moved further up the ladder and tried slamming yourself up against it while crying out Loki's name.

He had trapped you.

In your own cellar.

Loki.

 

Why?

****

Loki had his head in his hands as he listened to your frantic cries of his name. " ** _I am so sorry [y/n],_** " he whispered softly as he tucked his knees in to support himself as he sat on top of the trapdoor " ** _I am so, so sorry._** " he had already cast a spell to keep you from hearing anything that happened outside of the cellar and as his ears picked up on the ever so distant hum of the quin jet he cast the last spell to allow no sound out of the cellar and keep it locked, even though your weak and betrayed cries had stopped close to fifteen minutes ago and had been reduced to quiet sobbing. the spell was one simple enough not to attract any attention from even his brother should they go looking and a more advanced charm to make people naturally overlook the trapdoor was added before he scooted several buckets on top of and around it to further disguise it before returning to the living room, shutting the pets in your room, and them magicking on his normal garb to wait.

He would not let them take and use you like they had him. He knew full well that S.H.I.E.L.D. was not a stupid organization and had likely already figured out he had feelings for the girl. He had no doubt in his mind that they would use you against him as a bargaining chip in whatever way necessary.

****

You had been kneeling at the foot of the cellar ladder for almost an hour. You cried yourself out at this twist in Loki's attitude about a third of the way through and had spent the rest of the time just sitting there. You sat there and wondered, why? Why would he do this to you? what could possibly make him trick you into shutting you away from the world and then leaving you there?

The Avengers.

You stilled and things slowly clicked into place. As lovely and bright as Loki could be, he did still have a cynical outlook on life on earth outside of your home and none of what he had said of the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. was kind other than of the times he had been making fun of them. They were coming for him. The Avengers were finally coming for Loki. pulling yourself up the ladder again, ignoring the blanket as it fell off your shoulders, you pounded against the trapdoor with a newfound desperation.

" ** _LOKI! LOKI PLEASE! LOKI!_** " your voice cracked as new tears fell down your face.

He Was Gone.

Loki Was Already Gone.

You let out a heart-wrenching scream of defiance as you pushed at the trapdoor. The scream broke into a horrified sob as the trapdoor lifted and various boxes and buckets of things fell away. You remember telling Loki that you would be indifferent when they came, telling him that if they were civil you would be civil and if they were hostile- you would try to help him. You remembered pushing off the matter in your own mind so that you would never have to deal with it. You remembered making him call his brother, thinking it was a good idea at the time. You remembered the hot chocolate he had made you just this morning. It had been in the biggest cup in the house and he had dropped in two candy canes and had done his best to get the marshmallows arranged into a smiley face.

You remembered all of these things as you stood in the doorway of the closet, staring at your overturned living room and cried.

 

 

 

It was only until later that you realized there were no friendly or worried barks of a black dog or comforting purrs of a black cat.

 

It was only until later that you realized just how alone you had been left.


	27. Chapter 27

Magic, Knight, and Loki were all gone.

The silence in your house killed you and you struggled to remind yourself to stop making so much food when cooking, now no longer having another mouth to feed. You broke at least three plates in the first week, holding them out and letting go - forgetting that there was no one to take or catch them. You struggled to sleep at all without a body next to you before you eventually threw the largest pillow you owned onto your porch for fifteen minutes and then wrapped yourself around it in front of the fireplace as you tried not to cry. Winters in the cabin had always been long but they had never been a problem before. You had never needed other people like this before.

You tried slipping back into normal things like practicing with your swords or painting but every time you picked up a sword you hated that you hadn't been able to help him and every time you painted you missed his company.

It was like this for two months.

Then you finally had enough. You pulled out three massive canvases and got to work, sketching and painting and working your but off to get them finished and calling various museums to get them shown along with a bunch of your other work. You arranged deals with a place halfway across the country from you and threw things together until you were satisfied and they worked. The second you were done with the three massive paintings you got to work on the smaller ones. Some might call you insane for all the work you were doing but you called yourself... alright so you also thought your plan was absolutely bonkers but that was an entirely different matter.

The second the roads were clear enough there was a large truck waiting in front of your house with two lovely men who helped you load all of the paintings up into the truck. You nearly cried when you spotted the dog in the driver area and the pair laughed as they let you pet and pamper the dog with the treats you still had left over from when Knight was at the house. Once you were done you waved the truck drivers as the drove away and succumbed to another sleepless night.

You strongly suspected the reason the two let you play with their dog so much was because of the fact that you looked horrible. Some days the silence in your house was overwhelming and you had to turn on the music at full volume before things even began to feel better. Little by little you were getting used to being totally and completely alone again and you hated it. You couldn't remember if you had ever had more than four hours of sleep at a time in the past several months, the one time when you had even gotten close to six was when you took everything left in your sleep medication bottle. there had only been a small handful of the pills anyways - it wasn't as if you had been trying to overdose. There had been one day when the snow was beginning to melt that you had gone out into the snow and practiced with a sword, running through all the motions and tricks Loki had taught you. when you came back inside you stared at the mug he had always used and didn't move for a good thirty minutes.

You missed everything about him and there was a deep ache in your chest every time you thought about him. You missed talking with him in Asgurdain. You missed curling up together in front of the fire with a book. You missed teaching him new recipes and watching as he would mess them up and the two of you would end up with an entirely different dish. You missed that cocky little smirk of his and the way his eyes lit up at the sight of any kind of sweet. You missed your dog who would lay across your lap and eagerly await a chance to play with one or both of you. You missed your cat who could do literally anything he wanted from sticking to the ceiling to magically making his way outside and in without any problems to finding his food and getting himself served no matter where you or Loki hid it. They had become a part of your life and having them all disappear so suddenly had wrecked you.

You were a complete mess and you knew it. Regardless of that, the next day you slapped both sides of your face at once with a scream to encourage yourself, grabbed your scarf, keys, and driving coat and set out for the long drive ahead.


	28. Chapter 28

Loki was more angry with himself than he had been in a long time yet no one other than his oaf of a brother had any idea that he had been stuck in an internal screaming and crying match with himself the entire winter. He regretted locking you away like he did but then again, he really didn't. If the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. had found you they would have used you and turned you into a tool and he could never allow that. He would rather be forever barred from Valhalla than watch you be used against him like S.H.I.E.L.D. would attempt. They would have tried to poison your view of him and turn you into some kind of agent to act as his handler. And if they didn't do that you would have become a bargaining chip. There would be threats to your safety and freedom on a daily basis. So knowing this Loki locked you in your cellar and waited for his unwanted guests to arrive. When they did he put up no resistance other than when Stark made fun of Knight but Thor also defended the poor animal so Loki could at least mentally thank him for that. When they questioned him as to who you were he lied and stated that you had been some young witch that had found him injured out in the woods. They caught the word 'had' and the absence of another person in the building and Loki then easily slid into his next lie and told them you had died from a wound suffered in the attack on your house.

Thor had tried to comfort him, pulling Loki into a tight hug for several minutes before Loki then received his brand new and fancy handcuffs made just for him so that he couldn't use any magic. Then he got a gag and was shoved into his own little holding cell for a timeout in the tower. Loki was fine with that, he was not so fine with the fact that they had also taken Magic and Knight to the tower as well and now were in the care of Natasha and Thor respectively. Loki felt no small amount of satisfaction over the fact that Magic could find his way into the cell whenever the cat felt like it. Or in the fact that the moment Knight saw him she bounded over and dragged him off towards the roof to play with her. He had shot Clint a victorious smirk at that since he was very much aware of the fact that Knight refused to play with the archer(possibly because Loki had specifically instructed her not too).

After Loki's timeout was over he was still very firmly kept on house arrest other than missions. Loki in response shut himself away in his room and tried to forget you so that he wouldn't have to miss you so much that it hurt. There was a distinct lack of joy directed towards him at the tower unless it came from his brother or the pets. He longed to see your face and hear you laugh again or tease you about your lack of awareness or even just hold you in his arms. He wanted all of this and more and yet at the same time resigned himself to never having it again. He did his best to play it off as 'it was nice while it happened and I will remember my time with her fondly but it does not truly matter' because that's how he wished it was. He wished he didn't have trouble sleeping because he didn't know if you were alright on your own or because he missed having his arms wrapped around you.

It did not help the one time he had walked into breakfast one morning in fuzzy sweatpants, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and asking in Asgardian what the options for breakfast were, completely forgetting that he was not with you in your lovely home with the delightfully warm fire and art supplies stuffed onto every shelf to keep the rest of the house clean. Thor had given him a look of pity but the rest of the Avengers were merciless in their confusion and then mocking in teasing him for not keeping up his normal regal appearance around them.

It was two weeks before now that he had been permitted out of the Tower as long as someone was with him so occasional walks to the dog park with Thor and Knight became a new and routine event(partially because Knight loved him more and now refused to go unless Loki did and Thor loved watching what he had long since known was a wolf play with all the other dogs in the park. On these outings, he had seen various posters for an art exhibition featuring heroes, villains, and magic. The posters began to pop up all over the place as the date grew nearer and then suddenly Tony was announcing to the team that they were going to the private exhibition since they had all("yes ALL sadly, even Reindeer games for some reason") and that he had better be on his best behavior.

The moment Loki walked into the building where the exhibition was being held he knew something was off. He recognized the work of a few famous artists and even their creators among the crowd and carefully wove his way throughout the crowd, keeping an eye out for danger as he looked at the art pieces. Thor pulled him to the center of the exhibit not twenty minutes into the event with a large smile on his face.

"Brother I think you should come see these art pieces," Thor whispered conspiratorially "I promise you will love them."

Loki rolled his eyes and swiped a glass of champagne off of a passing waiters tray "I'm sure I can get to them later Thor, there are plenty of other pieces to look at before I get to whatever it is you're showing me."

"Trust me, brother!" Thor whisper yelled again with the largest smile Loki had seen on his face for quite some time. curious as to what could be causing it he allowed Thor to drag him through the crowd as he sipped the weak Midguardian alcohol.

Thor Placed Loki in front of a massive painting and time seemed to grind to a halt for the black-clad prince. The oversized canvas held a painting of himself pushing aside rubble and reaching out to help a woman from the wreckage with a look of worried urgency on his face. The painting was not graphic per say, even though there was blood depicted, yet the lighting and composition mixed with the way the entire thing was done at a severe slant with the light spilling into the painting behind him sent chills down the villains and sent their heart rate up. The painting made it feel as if you were right there in the chaos watching Loki pull someone out of the rubble in the middle of a fight. That, however, was not the reason for Lokis sudden shut down. Looking slowly around the room he saw the various other painting lining the walls and felt the cup in his hands slip from his fingers and smash on the floor. there was an alarmed silence in response as heads turned to look at him.

Loki grabbed onto his brother's arm with a vice-like grip as he scanned the crowd in growing horror. "Loki?" Thor questioned in worry "Loki's what's wrong, I thought you would love seeing someone-"

"NO." Loki hissed through his voice in a strained tone as his eyes swept across the crowd in ever-growing panic "No no no, she can't be here, she can't."

Thor grabbed his brother by the shoulders and forced him to look at him "Loki. What's wrong?" he demanded gently, worriedly.

The look Loki gave him was one of fear and horror "have you seen the artist who made these?" he asked desperately.

Loki knew this painting style. He knew the product and the faint smell of the forest the paintings carried. He knew.

Thor looked even more worried now "No, not yet. I can find her quickly if-" Thor was cut off yet again as Loki burst out a hasty and loud "NO." he quickly lowered his tone looking anxious and added "No, please don't look for her. I-we need to leave and I need to leave NOW."

"Loki explain," Thor said as his brother dragged him along, face creased in concern.

"We need to leave," Loki insisted as he searched for the way out.

"Loki?"

Loki froze at the sound of your voice and Thor looked at you curiously as you slowly approached his brother. You had been prepping and perfecting everything about the exhibition until the last minute and as a result, you hadn't had more than an hour of sleep in the past three days and had been unable to get a change of clothes before the doors had opened. Your paint smeared and spattered sweater along with your torn up jeans were what you had ended up wearing to a fancy dress party and not a single look you got put a dampener in your hopeful mood for the entire night until now. Now you were staring down Loki who was dressed in an all black suit looking the most impressive you had seen in a long time and giving you a look like a kicked puppy mixed in with a healthy dose of desperation.

"[y/n]," he breathed in something short of terror "What are you doing here?"

Your world became impossibly small as you stared down his terrified form "What... What am I doing here?" tears pricked the corner of your eyes as you took a step towards him " _What am I doing here?_ What are you doing here?"

"I-" you cut him off before he could get any further than one word.

"What happened Loki? One minute everything's fine and then you're gone and so is Magic and Knight!"

"I was keeping you safe!" Loki yelled back at you.

Something inside you that had been twisting and bending for all those months on your own finally snapped as you took two quick steps forwards and slapped Loki as hard as you could despite the height difference as you screamed: "YOU LOCKED ME IN MY CELLAR AND LEFT ME ALONE!" Loki stared off into the distance in shock as a hand went to the place you had hit him "YOU TRICKED ME AND BETRAYED ME AND THEN LEFT ME ALONE FOR MONTHS! HOW COULD YOU!? HOW, LOKI, AND WHY? WHY LEAVE ME LIKE THAT? Why leave me at all!?" tears were rolling down your face so much that you couldn't see as you kept your fists at your sides and stared at the floor with such intensity that it might light on fire.

there were a few beats of silence before Loki spoke "Because they would have used you." neither of you were looking at each other "Because S.H.I.E.L.D. won't care that you're an innocent civilian, they'll just see you as another way to control me. They would have played it off like they were looking out for you but they would have used you as a bargaining chip and claimed it was all for the greater good. All because I'm 'dangerous, unpredictable, and a threat to humanity'. they would have used you as a tool and then discarded you the second you were no longer effective."

"And that's worse than being trapped alone in a cabin after finally realizing you actually need human interaction or another living breathing thing to fill the silence?" you demanded hotly as you grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to you as you wrapped your arms around him "I missed you so much," you choked out.

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around you as well as Loki murmured "I know."

A moment later there was the whir of something powering up and you gripped Loki tighter as a voice called out "Ok, what the hell is this?"

that thing inside you snapped a second time as you pulled away from Loki and glared through your tears at the one and only Tony Stark "and where the hell do you get off stealing someone else's pets?" you snapped back vehemently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THINGS ARE GOING TO GET BETTER SOON!!!! YAY


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'M A LIAR! A DIRTY FILTHY LIAR

While the three Avengers that escorted you to the Helicarrier at the time as that inside you was still frayed and angry, the black man with only one eye currently standing in front of you terrified you. This was Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and someone who could have everything about you destroyed with a word. with hardly any effort he could give you a death that was ten times more painful and horrofying than your brothers.

"So Ms. [l/n]," he began, laying one hand over the other on top of a file as he sat across from you "tell me about yourself."

You had trouble opening your mouth in front of him. There was no one or anything to back you up or offer you any kind of comfort now, they had pulled Loki away from you the first chance they had gotten despite Thors mild protests that should not and they had still yet to give you back your pets. Fury raised an eyebrow as you opened and closed your mouth silently, gripping the edges of your sweater in your lap so tightly that your knuckles had gone white. it took a few more moments but your mouth made a noise before your mouth could stop it.

"Can I have my cat and back first?" You froze even further in your seat and your sudden intensified terror must have shown on your face, there was no way it couldn't have. Yet all Fury did was raise his eyebrow further.

"How about you answer one question first?" you gave a small and stiff nod "what are you?"

"a painter?" you answered in a small and confused voice. You were obviously human right, of course he had probably faced all sorts of things though so it made a kind of sense that he should ask.

"Besides that," Fury clarified "what are you that made our resident villain get a heart?"

Your body acted before you could stop to think rationally as anger boiled through your veins and you spat out "he's not a villain and he already had one. Maybe if all of you would actually listen to him and take his word for something you would know that."

Fury leaned forwards to meet you "We do take his words for something, lies and manipulations, the exact thing he claims to be the god of."

"and he can't tell the truth every once in a while?" you demanded hotly, gripping your sweater even tighter.

"even if he was telling the truth, we cannot simply forget what he did-"

The chair clatter as you stood up quickly and Fury leaned back and watched your eyes light up in anger and pain "I didn't say you had to forgive him! I'm not saying that he's not technically in the wrong for taking all of those lives! But you certainly don't have to treat him like the scum of the earth for something that wasn't actually his fault!" tears were gathering at the corners of your eyes as you shouted "You don't get to lock him alone in a room or berate him every second of the day just because he was the puppet that was used that time!"

"My my, doesn't he have your wrapped around his little finger," Fury mused.

You stopped dead at those words and felt a tear rolling down your face as you choked out "what?"

"getting you to defend him like that," Fury said as he stood as well, picking up the folder as he did so "wonder how many spells he had to use to get such dedication, or maybe he used other means to get you to have such devotion."

Your blood bloilled and you saw red as the director spoke "excuse you," you hissed vehemently "the only times he has ever used magic on me was to help me with my insomnia or show me stupid magic tricks! he didn't even use it to do the dishes unless I asked first!"

"are you sure?"

"Excuse me?" you spat out.

Fury watched calmly as you shook in place with absolute outrage on your face and ever so calmly stated his next words "Are you so sure that he only used it on you when he asked? How certain are you that he's never used any other kind of charm or spell on you to gain your trust or love. How positive can you be that he would never do such a thing, when he locked you in your own cellar." He watched as you went still and your face dropped from anger to worried confusion. He watched as your world ground to a halt and shattered and then said "think on that ms [l/n]. I'll go get your pets for you in the mean time."

As Fury left the room he didn't need to look back to know as he heard your knees give out as you sat on the floor with your head in your hands. Loki would never do something like that to you, never. There was such an adamant feeling in your entire being that he would never ever do something like that to you, despite the whole cellar incident. Yet there was this teeny tiny little nagging and insisting voice that whispered 'but what if that's the spells talking. what if he did?'

And for the first time in years, you were doubting yourself.

****

"That was an underhanded move Director Fury." Thor stood in front of the other man with a deep set frown on his face. Steve stood next to him with a frown as well, neither of them having approved of how Fury handled the situation.

"I don't like Loki either sir, but making him watch that was needlessly cruel." Steve stated.

Thor nodded "You may not realize this Director, but my brother _does_ , in fact, have the ability to care and he does care deeply for that mortal. Mentally torturing the both of them like that is a level I had not thought S.H.I.E.L.D. would stoop to."

"I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't neciccary." Fury stated coolly "it's because your brother cares that we have to do this. Your brother is unpredictable and a danger to everyone every time we let him out of his cage. If he wasn't such an asset and the fact that he needs to do things so that we can get rid of him I would never have given permission for you to let him out of that cell in the first place."

Steve took a step closer as anger flashed across his features "and so we're justifying every reason Loki gave her for why he locked her away and told us she was dead!?"

Fury looked him dead in the eye "yes captain, In a way we are doing exactly that."

Steve snapped "IN A WAY!?"

Fury was absolutely unaffected by the felling soldier and fuming asguardian next to him "yes, now if you'll go and get the dog, and her cat if agent Rommanof is willing to part with it, I told her I'd return them."

****

It was the noise of a dark barking and a sudden fuzzy warmth on your shoulders that snapped out out of you internal spiral. It wasn't quite panic attack territory but more intense mental crisis territory. "Knight?" you asked in surprise and got a face full of black dog "KNIGHT!" you cheered as you threw your arms around the dog and cried. She had grown so much since you had last seen her, where she used to be adorable puppy sized when she was with you she had fleshed out quite a lot into an impressive and lean figure.

"Who's a good girl?" you choked out around your tears as she licked your face and let out several happy barks. A smaller black paw poked the side of your face and you turned your attention to the green eyes cat and pulled him into your lap to pet him better.

Unknown to you Natasha watched from the doorway as you tearfully clung to and fussed over your pets, completely oblivious to her presence. She couldn't help but think how easily Loki must have found it to lock you in the cellar. Next to her Clint watched you with a slightly softer gaze. When he had pictured the girl Loki cared for from the horrible footage they had of you before he had thought that you must have been some insanely beautiful woman with enough sass and snark to match his own or a good manipulator. He had NOT been expecting the childlike, messy, and kind painter he had run into briefly during the art exhibition. Despite his own feelings towards Loki when he watched you cry over your pets he was reminded of his own children for some reason and he squashed the mild urge to go and comfort you. Instead he touched Natasha's arm and signaled they should go and leave you alone with your pets.

Natasha sent a glance back at you and Clint knew he wasn't the only one feeling a bit of pity towards her.

****

"So tell me about yourself." it had been several hours and here Nick Fury was again, sitting in front of you with the folder under his clasped hands. The only difference was now you had to living support blankets.

You held Magic just a little closer and asked softly "what do you want to know?"

"how about basic facts about yourself?"

So you took a deep breath and began "I'm [y/n] [l/n], I paint in just about every medium out there and can draw in the same. I lived in the town near my cabin after the death of my brother, but moved back into my original home the moment I was old enough. I like the quiet? books are nice."

"we noticed the vast array of blades in your home when we came to retrieve Loki, was that him or you?" Fury asked.

you hesitated and felt the smallest amount of red creep onto your face "Me. I like the way they feel."

"you mentioned you have insomnia?"

You closed your eyes "stress induced."

"you seem to live a very quiet life."

"by necessity," you grunted "and situation."

"Care to elaborate?"

"not really," your voice came out strained and a few octaves higher. you did not especially feel like telling this man that you suffered from nightmares about your brother and the constant stress/worry that the same would happen to you, even though the men who would have done so were now dead.

"when did you get your pets?"

"last year."

"why?"

You paused here before answering "I didn't want to be lonely when he left."

"Yet when Loki was gone you went and sought him out," Fury noted.

You opened your eyes and gave a stiff but heated glare "because one of the only people in my life that I actually trust more or less got kidnapped and I was forced into the equivalent of solitary confinement for several months." for some reason Fury didn't seem quite as scary as he did before. But then again that might be exasution finally setting in.

"You must have known who had taken him," Fury leaned a little closer to you, interest coloring his voice.

You leaned a little bit away, just because you weren't as scared didn't mean you weren't still scared. "I also knew it was the people who had been abusing him."

"Abusing?" Fury repeated. Your eyes narrowed slightly and you didn't respond. "let me ask you this Ms. [y/n], how much do you care for Loki?"

"I'd drop everything for him." you stated, mouth moving before your brain did, not that it complained this time.

Fury raised an eyebrow "even your own life?"

Your lips pressed into a thin line and you answered slowly "I trust Loki to protect me and not put me in danger."

"And if he asked you to kill someone?"

"No." your voice was firm and adamant "I had a gun but the only reason was as a home defense weapon if worst came to worst."

"Smart." you blinked in surprise. Did Nick Fury just.... complement you for owning a gun? Fury stood and went to open the door "well Ms. [l/n], I think the Avengers will figure out how to deal with your life choices in time, lord knows they all have their own insanity to deal with." he held out a silver cuff to her "put this on and you can go see your magician."

you hesitated as his words processed and whispered out a soft "what?"

"would you like to see lover boy?"

"lover boy?" you wheezed.

Fury sighed and walked back over to put the cuff on your unresistant wrist "Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D. Ms. [l/n]." he huffed "try not to get yourself killed by saying something stupid."

"what!?"

****

You hadn't seen Loki since the art exhibition and when you arrived at Stark towers thirty minutes after your harsh introduction to S.H.I.E.L.D.s asset protection program, Knights leash in one hand, your duffel in the other, and Magic curled around your neck, there was still no sign of him. The agents had left you at the front desk where you stood nervously, waiting for one of the team members to come get you as you had been told to do. At the sight of who had been sent to get you you stiffened.

"Hey kid," Tony stark greeted dryly "you getting in?" he was referring to the elevator that he was currently standing in and you stiffly walked in next to him. As the doors closed and your ascent began you came to the sudden realization that-

"you aimed your repulsor at me during my art exhibition."

Tony raised an eyebrow at you "you were _hugging_ Loki. It's was a valid assumption you were dangerous. Or insane, witch is a far more plausible guess with this," he motioned at you.

You would have glared at the man if Fury's words weren't still ringing in your head _"try not to get yourself killed by saying something stupid"_. In your opinion you would have pegged Tony as the least dangerous Avenger, mainly because the only other normal person could turn into a giant green war machine when provoked. That didn't mean he still couldn't kill you at the drop of a hat though.

"What?" Tony prodded "no comeback this time, or are you just not as brave without your big, strong, murdering, psychopath-" Knight cut him off with a loud angry bark as her hackles raised, and began growling at the inventor who took an immediate step back.

" ** _Down, Knight,_** " you ordered in a small voice. Your grip on the dog leash was so tight that you weren't certain if you were drawing blood or not.

"Was that Asgurdian?" Tony questioned, quickly ignoring the still on guard dog at your side in favor of questioning you. When you nodded ever so slightly he grinned "so what's the word for prick?"

Some little part of you realized you had spent far to much time with Loki when your mouth answered " _ **Stark.**_ "

Tony grinned and repeated the word. His pronunciation was horrible but it would get the meaning along just fine and you gave the smallest of nods and gripped the leash tighter. It wasn't even your first day and you were throwing sass around in another language. They were going to kill you by the end of the week at this rate. The elevator doors opened with a soft ding and Tony stepped out before you "alrighty kid, time for ground rules. ONE!" a finger shot into the air for dramatic effect and held it in your face "no entering the lab, mission briefings, or anyone elses personal floors without permission. TWO!" now there were two fingers being held in your face as you took a small step back "No leaving the tower without a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent or member of the Avengers with you. THREE!" it was up to three fingers now and you were fairly certain you had tunnel vision on the inventors hand at this point. "No scoodlypooping with Loki in my tower!" what? "FOUR! don't remove your or Loki's bracelets. and FIVE!" here he pointed at a window in the common room "don't be surprised if someone chucks you outta that at one point."

You let out a breathy and weak "what?"

Tony's eyebrows shot above the tops of his sunglasses as he took a step towards you "Whoa kid, what the heck. You alright?" he was hovering in front of you looking unsure. you slowly followed his gaze to your own hands and found you had gripped the leash so hard that you had actually drawn blood.

"no." your voice was tiny and terrified "yes? I-Can I use some bandages?"

Tony let out a small swear as he backpedaled and spoke to the ceiling "Jarvis, get some medical in here for the new handler!"

You continued to stare at your hands and zoned out until a pair of slender hands closed around your wrists and tugged you into the room and had you sit down. People were talking around you and yet you couldn't pay attention to a word. someone eventually said something that stuck and you managed to get out "I need to sleep." the room fell silent for a few minutes before much larger hands wrapped around yours and gently pulled you to your feet before carefully leading you along. The next thing you knew you were staring up at a ceiling and tucked carefully into a bed with Knight at your feet and Magic curled up on your chest.

****

Tony had his arms crossed as he and the rest of the avengers(sans Loki of course) sat in the main room "there is no way that's the same kid from the art show." he began flatly.

"not many can speak Asgurdian," Thor sighed as he rubbed a hand over his face "did we not get a notification about some kind of sleep deprivation?"

"Stress induced insomnia," Black widow corrected as she drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair she was sitting in "it's possible she hasn't had a proper nights rest in months or years. She might not have even gotten much rest at all leading up to the art show, those things can be pretty stress inducing."

"And from the way she was freezing up in the elevator I'm guessing she's probably terrified about what's going on too," Hawkeye noted.

Steve shifted his position with a frown "so what are we supposed to do. We've got her basic file because Fury is refusing to give us anything else, Loki won't tell us anything because he's still angry at us, and the kid's probably to tired or messed up to say anything right now."

"we could treat her kindly." Thor said softly, looking up to meet the eyes of the group "treat her as a guest and get to know her. Maybe then she will share on her own or Loki will relax when he realizes we mean her no harm."

Bruce turned to him "but what if it's an act?" he questioned.

Tony was quick to jump in on that bandwagon as he flailed an arm at the other scientists "YES! What's if it's an act, what if she's just Loki's little puppet that he's tricked into-"

Thor interrupted him with a dark drown "she is not Loki's puppet."

Tony shot him a sneer "and how do you know point break? it's not like he hasn't tricked you hundreds of times."

"and it is because he has tricked me that I know the look of absolute heart break on my brothers face when I see it." Thor snapped and the group fell silent "so I suggest we be kind to the girl. I for one am looking forwards to talking to someone in my native language and having them understand."


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are in fact, people in the tower who like you.
> 
> What a surprise.

You didn't sleep that night but that was certainly nothing new. With your fingers tangled in Knights fur as your pet rested, you thought. Director Fury had suggested that Loki could have cast some kind of charm on you to get your loyalty... was... was that possible?

**No**

But what if that was just-

**He Would Not Hurt You**

You frowned at your ceiling as the firm, unrelenting, insistent feeling in your gut refused to back down on that point. there was still that small part of you that doubted it now, even after all these years of it never being wrong when it mattered. Then you did the small testing you remembered resorting to when you were younger and had doubted. It was a bunch of simple things like dumb little questions along the lines of what colors were in the room and how many scrapes were on Magics collar. Then you moved onto the weirder ones.

Through about ten more minutes of just sitting and thinking you reached the conclusion that your house was safe, Steve was an artist, no one in the tower meant you bodily harm, Loki was worried about you and that your gut feeling was right.

This did not change the fact that you were still terrified to confront or talk to any of the Avengers other than maybe Thor.

-

It Was Thor who convinced you to come out the next morning. He didn't even have to convince you, he just showed up outside your door with a muffin and asked if you and Knight would join him and Loki at the dog park. So here you were with Knight happily bouncing around you as you let Thor lead you into the dog park by the hand. Loki was trailing not too far behind with a tired look on his face and holding the case of new tennis balls under one arm. 

The moment the Asgardians entered the dog park they were swarmed by dogs and owners alike. Thor was happily throwing balls for all of the dogs and chatting briefly to their owners who were shooting you glances as you squatted next to your dog. Loki was studiously ignoring everyone else there other than the occasional attractive woman who he would shoot a wink to. That simple action helped you feel more at ease. that was normal for Loki, even if it was to a far less extent than when he had been at your town.

Before someone finally asked who you were Loki offered you a tennis ball as he watched a jogger pass the park with an interested look on his face. You smiled softly as you took the ball and let a small smirk cross your face " _ **What? Not going to go flirt with the pretty jogger?**_ " you teased softly and a tiny smirk crossed Loki's face as well.

" _ **Haven't decided yet,**_ " he informed you.

You rolled your eyes and tossed the ball for Knight to chase after " _ **at least I don't have my car for your to surround with your fans.**_ "

Loki glanced back at you with an arched eyebrow " _ **you're still upset about that?**_ " he asked, his tone amused.

" _ **No, not really,**_ " you chuckled and fell silent for a moment " _ **I really missed you,**_ " you added softly.

There was a moment and then there was an arm draped around your shoulders and Loki whispering next to your ear as he plucked the newly returned tennis ball from your hands " _ **And I you Little One, but your throws are extremely unimpressive.**_ " He then hurled the ball into the distance and Knight went chasing after it.

" _ **Oh come on!**_ " you complained and smacked his chest lightly but there was a smile tugging at your lips " _ **It's not like I'm some kind of God!**_ "

As you and Loki continued to talk and lightly tease each other Thor watched from a few feet away with a smile on his face. And then Loki shot a smirk and wink to one of the women and the riot began. Thor was laughing as he eventually sat you on one of his shoulders and called Knight after you both and more or less left Loki to his fate of swooning and interested woman. You, on the other hand, had both your hands to your face in a double facepalm as you muttered about how much you hated Loki.

When you eventually pulled your hands away from your face you caught a camera crew filming you and Thor and paused in confusion " _ **Thor?**_ " you questioned, tapping him on the shoulder " _ **Are, um, are there supposed to be cameras filming us?**_ "

Thor shot them a glance and simply gave you an apologetic smile " _ **we are rather famous here on Midgard Little One,**_ " he told you " _ **It is only natural that they broadcast our outings to the rest of the world**_."

" _ **Oh,**_ " you hummed dumbly.

" _ **However,**_ " Thor relented with a sigh " _ **we should probably head back to the tower now. LOKI!**_ " you flinched back at his volume and Loki shot his brother a glare.

" _ **What do you want now oaf?**_ " he called back.

Thor grinned " _ **If you don't hurry I'll have to take the little one back to the tower all by myself,**_ " he warned, " _ **maybe I simply won't give her back at all?**_ "

Panic momentarily flashed through your system before your brain kicked in and rationally told you ' _CHILL, they're siblings. Teasing and stealing each other's things for a while is what they do._ ' The only problem was that you weren't one of Loki's things.

Something flashed in Loki's eyes as Thor began backing away from the park " _ **Thor, put her down,**_ " he warned and the smile of Thor's face widened " _ **Thor-THOR!**_ " Loki vaulted the fence to the dog park to chase after his brother as Thor made a break for it.

" _ **Hold on little one!**_ " Thor laughed as you gripped onto his shirt to keep yourself from bouncing to badly.

Knight ran after Thor as well, barking happily the entire way as you all headed back to the tower. It was apparently common for Loki to be throwing daggers at Thor and try to stab him in New York. You didn't find yourself all that surprised and even ended up laughing as you all eventually reached the tower. It was nice to be talking to people who actually seemed to like you.

Loki did offer a quiet apology when you ended up getting nicked by one of the knives he had thrown and you shrugged it off. It was hardly bigger than a paper cut anyways.

-

Thor made sure you and Loki joined the rest of the team for dinner that night. It was apparently one of the few times everyone in the tower got together, the other was Breakfast or team meetings. The Asgardians sat on either side of you and as you sat down you missed the questioning glance Thor shot Loki.

"So!" Tony said dropping into his own seat across from you and leaning forwards "Last night was a little..." he paused with an almost pained look on his face as he gestured with one hand.

"Not good?" Clint offered blandly.

"Sure, we'll go with that," Tony said nodding "And since we really only got through the ground rules I thought maybe now would be a good time to tell you everything else."

"How about rule number one," Loki began dryly as he picked at his food "Don't do anything Tony would do?"

"Well at least I'm not a little _**Stark**_." Tony snapped.

You stilled in your own chair and Loki choked on his food next to you while Thor nearly spit out whatever he had been drinking. You had a feeling it was some kind of alcohol. As Stark looked smug and proud of himself Loki finally stopped choking enough to wheeze out " _What?_ "

" _ **Stark,**_ " Tony repeated with a smirk "What, didn't think I couldn't get a translation from the kid?"

Thor was the first to start laughing though he gave a valiant effort not to. Loki, on the other hand, had no problem laughing at Tony and was almost double over. Tony was stuck between confusion and anger at his current predicament and Natasha gave a tiny smile behind her glass.

"Tony," Natasha spoke up "Do you think that she might not have given you the correct word?"

Tony turned on you and you froze like a deer in the headlights "How could you?" he demanded looking betrayed.

Clint reached over Tony's plate to grab food as he interrupted, completely ignoring the two laughing Asgardians. "So you're an artist?" he asked you.

Steve perked up a bit at that "Your paintings were amazing by the way. How did you get that good?"

"Practice?"

Steve grinned at that "of course."

Bruce was watching you curiously as he spoke "How did you pick what to paint for each of them?" he asked.

You gave a tiny shrug and looked down at your food "I just went with my first impression," you said softly and after a moment asked, "did you guys like them?"

"I bought mine," Natasha told you as she ate "and Clints."

You looked up at her in surprise "They weren't for sale yet."

"I talked to the person in charge," she told you simply "I'm getting prints of them. Though the real deal would be just as appreciated."

You then gave the stupidest response ever "Oh. Ok."

"How long did it take you to make them?" Steve asked.

"only a few months," you said and offered a shaky smile "It's not like I really sleep or anything."

There were a few nods before Tony pushed himself back into the conversation "So what'd'you see in Reindeergames over here?" he questioned, gesturing his fork at Loki who was finally beginning to stop laughing.

"What's not to see?" you asked in confusion "He's nice." an odd silence fell over the table and you hesitated before adding on softly "I mean he has his rough points just like anyone else but overall he's an awesome companion."

Natasha paused for a second "what would you call some of his rough edges?"

Your answer was instant "The fact that he flirted with just about every girl in town with no restraint other than bedding them," you responded dryly. Loki gasped and put a hand over his heart in mock offense "And the fact that he relished in every opportunity to outdrink everyone in town but me."

This brought a bit of surprise and Thor was the one to interrupt this time with a look of awe on his face "you out drunk Loki?"

"Ah, no," you responded hesitantly "We kind of got drugged the only time we tried."

"You got drugged?" Steve and Bruce looked alarmed at the idea.

"And then she got horribly sick, yes," Loki responded for you and you gave him an annoyed look as he stole a bit of food from your plate while no one else was looking. "now are you going to keep interrogating my handler or are we going to eat?" he smirked as he said this but your face fell. You didn't want to be some kind of handler.

"We can do both!" Tony protested and turned on you "So how much _can_ you drink?"

You hesitated before answering "A lot?"

Tony coked an eyebrow "A lot? Really?"

You picked at your plate self consciously and didn't look at him as you answered "I try not to drink when I can help it. I don't like how vulnerable it can leave me."

"Well, you're safe in the tower. Jarvis!" Tony called out brightly.

You looked up sharply in alarm. You _really_ didn't want to drink with total strangers. "What?"

Loki sighed "She just said she doesn't like to drink you imbecile, why not just wait until one of your stupid parties and have her host Assassination."

Curious looks were set your way and you explained "It's a drinking game. Everyone gets a shot glass and it either has some kind of strong alcohol or the 'poison' in it. Everyone downs their shots at once, or one at a time when you get down to a much smaller group. If you show any sign of getting the poison you're out. Every round the bartenders refill the glasses and everyone passes the shot glasses around so they get mixed up. switching your glasses with others to make sure you don't get out or to make sure that someone else _does_ is highly encouraged, just make sure you don't get caught doing it.

"When you get down to ten people you can't have more than three poisoned glasses and when you get down to under face you can only have two. generally, games end with two to three people facing off. Most games end at three though because that's when the poison is the worst." They nodded at your explanation and Tony was grinning.

"we should play now," he insisted "It'll be great. You can even be the bartender so you don't have to drink."

"I don't have any of the poison though," you told him "That stuff takes a while to make."

"Just give her warning before your next party," Loki sighed "Or if you took my inhibitor off I could fetch some."

"can't we use some kind of substitute?" Tony whined and you shook your head with a grimace.

"there's nothing quite like this stuff, trust me," you warned him "If you really wanted to play right now technically we could do the kind version but I doubt you have enough sugar on hand."

"We can get some," Tony insisted. There were a few more minutes of debate but Loki being curious about the kid version eventually broke down your resolve and you agreed.

-

"WHY DID YOU LET ME CONVINCE US TO DO THIS!?" Tony screamed, clawing at his tongue as Thor chuckled next to him. Clint patted Tony on the back in sympathy, having already gotten out before this. Natasha and Loki both looked pleased with themselves as you rolled your eyes at them and got the next round ready.  
-  
" _What is this taste?_ " Natasha demanded, scooting away from the table with a look of absolute revulsion on her face "How is that so _sweet?_ something that sweet shouldn't exist!"  
-  
Loki watched in amusement as you sat across from Steve at the demand of the rest of the team. Natasha had dished out this round and watched you both closely. You already knew how this would end.

"On three?" Steve asked with a small smile.

"One." you began.

"Two," Steve answered.

"Three," you both chanted together and downed the shot glasses.

Steve choked the second it touched his tongue and aborted the mission immediately "WHAT IS THAT!?" he practically screamed.

"That," you responded smoothly as you set your empty shot glass down and willed your stomach not to revolt at the sugary hell you had just dropped into it "Was poison."

Natasha looked impressed "How'd you not react, I put poison in both glasses."

You gave her a strained smile "Did you?"

"Where did you find this kid Loki?" Tony whined, "Why couldn't you have landed on the doorstep of some incredibly hot chick who was dumb as a doornail?"

"What, upset you can't bang this one?" Loki asked dryly and you stiffened slightly.

"No!" Tony protested and in a tiny afterthought "Maybe. But that's not the point! now we just have another freak on our hand that could give Natasha a run for her money-" you stopped listening there, gripping the fabric of your pants tightly as you calmed your breathing, having gotten back into practice of how to effectively keep your cool while Loki was gone. Tony had just called you a freak. That word sent off so many alarms in your head.

Loki had started bickering with Tony over something and most of the group was watching them in exasperated interest. Only the two spies shot you a glance when you quietly got up and made your way out of the room without drawing attention to yourself. When you got to your room you curled up underneath your blankets and held Magic close as he practically materialized next to you.

You closed your eyes and buried your face in his side. This was enough right now. Just this small contact with another thing was enough.

You missed when your door opened the smallest amount and two faces peered in to watch you and then let Knight through. The two people watched as the Wolf climbed up next to you and then rested her head on your side with a small huff.

"I don't think Loki's done anything to her," Clint murmured softly. Natasha let out a small hum of agreement. there was a short pause "what now?"

"We be nice," Natasha told him in a just as soft tone "We work her into our schedule and make sure she keeps her connection with Loki."

"We're really going to use her then?"

"It wouldn't hurt to give him a reason to behave, even if that reason is that she wouldn't like it."

There was a small hum from Clint and then the door was silently shut again and plans were made.


	31. Chapter 31

A few days had passed since your appearance in the tower, close to a full week actually. Every day you joined Loki and Thor and all went to the dog park. The three of you had somehow completely avoided saying your name or giving the public any information at all other than that you spoke Asgardian and that both boys were apparently fond of you.

The news stories of Loki flirting with people around the city when he crossed their paths were sidelined in favor of speculations of who you were. Somehow no one recognized you as the painter you were and so the theory that you were some young Asgardian, possibly some secret sibling of the two, was the all-time favorite of the populous. That theory was strengthened when a video of you screaming in Asgardian and flinging tennis balls at Loki's face as he laughed went viral. He had stolen your pretzel and eaten it when you had looked away.

Relations with the Avengers were slowly getting better as well. Steve would bashfully ask you about art and had recently started showing you some of his sketches. Clint and Natasha had been borderline stalking you for three days until you felt weird and started pointing them out with random guesses. The repeated demand to join them in a game of hide and seek was repeatedly and politely declined. Tony was obsessed with your drinking game knowledge and tolerance and pressed the topic whenever he got the chance.

In a moment of impulse, you had approached Bruce and asked for help. He suggested just outdrinking Tony and showing him. You immediately died at that. You trusted your ability to outdrink the billionaire but depending on how long that took you could end up drunk yourself. And you really didn't trust these people enough.

"What's wrong, little one?" Thor asked as he sat across from you at the table.

You looked up from where you had been resting your head on your arms and shook your head with a small smile "It's nothing Thor, don't worry about it."

"Telling me your woes will not burden me Little one," Thor countered gently

You hesitated for a moment "Tony keeps insisting on testing my alcohol tolerance," you sighed "please don't take this the wrong way but... I just don't trust you all enough for that."

Thor paused for a moment, watching you as you stared intently at the table surface "Well," he began slowly "who do you trust?"

The answer was easy "Loki. Maybe you. I probably couldn't outdrink you," you gave a weak and strained chuckle "Oh wow, the guys from town would love you."

"Why is that?" Thor asked.

"The people in my town already had a love-hate relationship with Loki because he could drink them all under the table," you told him, "I think he actually got tipsy once or twice though. He complimented my hair a few times after he had outdrink everyone."

Thor leaned forwards with a smile "really?" You nodded sheepishly, remembering the one car ride home where he had mumbled about how he liked your hair "well then why don't you drink with both of us and Stark. He can be satisfied knowing your tolerance and Loki and I will be there to keep you safe if anything happens."

You stared at Thor in horror "Oh please no."

-

Tony was grinning as he shook up and mixed the first drink, having insisted you both start out strong. The entire thing had quickly spiraled out of control and you were genuinely afraid but hid it well. All of the Avengers were at a bar, sitting around you and several other candidates as Tony mixed drinks. Instead of you out drinking Tony it had turned into both princes and you out drinking as many people in a bar as possible. And there were a lot of people in this bar. On your left, Loki was privately worried about you as well. He knew why you didn't like things like this but if he was going to distance himself he couldn't say anything. On your right, Thor was completely unaware of your issue at the moment and was more than ready for the game to begin.

You didn't listen to Tonys crazy spcheel beforehand and instead prepared yourself. 

Two hours later and the three of you were still going strong despite half of the bar being blackout drunk. That was including Tony. You were actually a bit disappointed that half of the people in here had a tolerance not even close to the people in your town. At least no one had tried to pick a fight yet.

Another two hours later and you vaguely registered Bruce watching you looking confused and horrified as he muttered to himself. Not that you really cared. Next to you, Loki was giggling softly as he leaned against you and murmured in Asgurdain. Something about kings and how annoyed they would be. Thor was doing mostly fine though his words were getting just the tiny bit slurred and he was much louder than normal. You yourself were certainly drunk at this point but years of habit and more or less training made it hard to tell.

Once everyone had given up, been carted home, or pulled from the drinking contest you grabbed Tony's hands, swaying somewhat as you crouched next to him, and fumbled the keys into your own hands. Natasha was there a moment later.

"Oh no you don't-"

"It'll be fine~" you whined at her and tugged the keys away from her as she tried to take them from you.

" _ **Little one!**_ " Loki whined from the other side of the room " _ **Just let the window drive.**_ "

" _ **It's Widow, and I want to drive,**_ " you whined back at him.

" _ **Later!**_ " He yelled back at you.

" _ **Now!**_ "

" _ **Later!**_ "

The two of you bickered like that for a good fifteen minutes, not noticing the hands that tugged the keys from your own or the people that guided you towards the car. It was only when you were back in the hallway between your rooms that you realized and stopped and teared up.

" _ **I wanted to drive,**_ " you complained weakly " _ **Driving makes me happy. I just wanted to drive.**_ "

Loki frowned at you " _ **Later,**_ " he repeated and then grabbed your wrist and tugged you towards his room. You didn't even think to question it as he pulled you in and towards the bed. When he flopped onto the covers you were pulled down with him and he pulled you close. You shamelessly wrapped your arms around him and fell asleep within the next ten minutes. It was nice to sleep with another person again, specifically him as he curled around you.


	32. Chapter 32

Hey guys, so I know you probably clicked on this with that same rush of joy because 'holy marshmallows of my brothers face they updated' but I'm going to have to disappoint you. I've been feeling stuck with what I wrote for this and while I love a lot of what I've done and adore countless small moments I made, it's not what I originally envisioned. 

So I'm going to rewrite it and make it even better.

Or at least try to.

The goal is to have the new first five chapters up by the end of the month but if your read through while I was working on this the first time you know I'm horrible at keeping a schedule. 

It's the goal though.

 

I hope you all enjoy some roadtrip shenanigans, still super paranoid painters that drive like insane people, and pets that absolutely know better than stealing the key to the house because man, I've got some plans.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is in the process of being proofread.


End file.
